Al Jazeera documentary alleges involvement of England, Australia and Pakistan cricketers in spot-fixing

Al Jazeera’s investigative unit has reported around 24 instances of spot-fixing between 2011 and 2012 in 15 international matches. They carried out operations that show the involvement of cricketers from England, Australia and Pakistan. The evidence uncovered by the news organisation not only reveals corruption at the highest level of the sport but also highlights the involvement of a number of English cricketers.

As per reports, the bookmakers allegedly carried out spot-fixing in as many as seven matches. Some Australian players did the same in five matches and those from Pakistan, in three matches. Apart from these three cricketing nations, the investigation also revealed the involvement of players from other teams carrying out spot-fixes in a given match, including cases where both teams in the match were allegedly involved in the fix.

The matches include six Tests, six ODIs and three World T20 matches. Most of these matches involved instances of multiple fixing, taking the count to 26 fixes in the 15 matches.

The matches in question include an England-India Test that was played at the Lord’s Cricket Ground, South Africa’s match against Australia in Cape Town and several matches during England’s tour against Pakistan in the UAE. The recordings reveal that the alleged fixing was mostly carried out by batsmen, many of them being A-listers. Al Jazeera, however, has decided against revealing the identities of the players.

Virat Kohli photographed with alleged match-fixer

The alleged fixer Aneel Munawar has already been exposed by the news organization in a documentary that rocked the cricketing world in May 2018. In the new documentary titled The Munawar Files which is a follow-up, it shows that Munawar has been allegedly corrupting international cricket since 2010. Out of the 26 predictions he made with regards to the outcome 25 turned out to be correct.

The Al Jazeera report also includes pictures of Munawar and his associates in the vicinity of international cricket players during the World T20 2012 in Sri Lanka and was reportedly seen speaking to a few of them. At the same time, there is no suggestion that these cricketers were involved in match-fixing.

One of the biggest revelations of the report is the fact that the match-fixer was seen close to Indian skipper Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, and Lakshmipathy Balaji. Another picture shows Pakistan’s Umar Akmal with a bag allegedly given to him by one of Munawar’s associates. Whether he took it with him or not isn’t known.

Lawyers for the ECB and Cricket Australia have rejected the evidence provided by the documentary. Meanwhile, the ICC has demanded that Al Jazeera share the footage, but say they’ve had no cooperation from the channel.

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from India vs West Indies series, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.