The spot fixing allegations have gone beyond the border to India as the second edition of the IPL has come under suspicion. The British newspaper Sunday Times has reported that following suspicious betting patterns in IPL-2, the International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit has prepared a list of 29 players. The list also contains the name of two Australian cricketers.
The report raised voices of surprise and not concern from every quarter. The ICC said that it knew nothing about any such list but said that the ACSU had all the rights to investigate about any tournament without the permission of the respective board. The BCCI sounded surprised because the ACSU was not involved in IPL-2, as the BCCI had had its own anti-corruption unit for the tournament.
But, the services of the ACSU were finally employed for the third edition of the IPL, with the BCCI paying in excess of $1.5 million as a service fee. That edition of the IPL was declared as a clean tournament by the ICC.
The Australian Cricket Board said that they too did not have any knowledge about such a report. They also said that the ICC too had told them the same. Australian leg spinner Shane Warne, who was the captain of the Rajasthan Royals during the tournament, also said that he found the IPL to be clean and that he was not approached by any bookies during the tournament.
The tournament took place in South Africa that year. The newspaper report also said that there weren’t any English or Pakistani players were in the list. However, this is incorrect as many English players played in the tournament.