Ian Marshall, the chief of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) Anti Corruption Unit (ACU), claims the explosion of T20 tournaments is giving good options to the corrupters to damage the game’s ethics.
While the Asia Cup 2018 is running in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad has recently reported that an Indian bookie approached him for spot-fixing in the upcoming Afghan Premier T20 League that will be played in Sharjah from October 5-23.
Also read: An Afghanistan cricketer has reported for getting approached by an Indian bookie
Soon, ACU has taken this matter seriously and they are monitoring closely the ongoing Asia Cup tournament. On Monday, Marshall has spoken out that the corrupters are looking the T20 tournaments in a big way.
Marshall explained that at the ICC headquarters, “The corrupters love the explosion of T20 tournaments. These have given them a host of new opportunities. It’s great to have these events, great way to develop cricket in new regions, but they are also new opportunities for the corrupters.
“They can particularly like the T20s and, if they can, they will try and get into the franchises; they will try and get financial backing; they will try and gain influence over the T20 league.
“We have had several jobs we have dealt with related to T20 leagues. And if they can’t get into a T20 league, how about designing their own corrupt tournament.
“Over the last couple of years, a host of private T20 leagues — and at times even shorter formats — have mushroomed across the globe, where corruption is rampant.”
The ICC CEO Dave Richardson has also agreed that they are reviewing the regulations to stop this corruption in the game.
Richardson said, “Yes, we already are reviewing our regulations. The intention is to introduce minimum standards, not as a barrier to entry but simply as a mechanism to better control who is involved in these leagues, who is putting them on and minimise the risk of them being corrupt.”
Marshall also claimed that the corrupters love captains as the five captains had been approached in the last 12 months.
Marshall said, “Corrupters love captains. We have had five captains approached in the last 12 months. Think back to some of the most famous corruption cases and you’ll know the corrupters chase captains because the captain gets to control bowling changes, the approach, fielding changes, etc.”
