On Thursday, Baljit Singh Joban’s son Sobers Joban, who was also a former Delhi cricketer has been featured in a purported undercover video released by The Sun tabloid offering to sell details of “fixed” sessions of the third Ashes Test. The Test began in Perth on Thursday, with Australia having a lead of 1-0 in the five-match series against England.
Sobers had represented Himachal Pradesh and Delhi at the junior level and he is also purportedly shown claiming that he could get players to send “signals” before fixed overs in an IPL match, and fix “four to five” Australian Big Bash T20 league games.
The video also claimed that Sobers was bragging about his contacts with cricketers from Australia, Pakistan and South Africa.
Within hours of the video being released, Cricket Australia said it would cooperate with the ICC in investigating its contents. However, out of many Degi cricketers, many recalled Sobers Joban as an “average cricketer” whose career came to a halt when questions were raised over the veracity of his certificates, which led to a police case in Himachal.
When contacted, Baljit Singh, 62, who runs the Lal Bahadur Shastri Coaching Centre in Vikaspuri, said, “My son used to organize matches in Delhi. Maybe he met someone there, how would I know? Now that the ICC is investigating the case, let’s wait. If he has done something wrong, let them hang him… I asked him this morning about the incident and he said he had not done anything wrong. He’s a grown-up, I can’t advise him.”
He further added, “He was a good player but rarely played after the case. He has not played for the last four years. At one point, he was so depressed that I feared he would commit suicide. Currently, he stays here with me.”
The Sun video purportedly shows Joban charging as much as 140,000 pounds for information about the fixed overs to enable the tabloid’s undercover reporters to bet large amounts of money. In the video, he was heard being said, “Bowling with full (sleeve) T-shirt is a signal, bowling (about to bowl) and stop is a signal.”
Sobers Joban represented Himachal Pradesh in U-17, U-19 and U-22 age-group matches before playing for Delhi in the Under-22 category in the 2007-08 season.
Johan claimed, “Big Bash we can do. Winning and loss. Some matches – we have some news, we got some confirmed news, through X and one man. Through X and also one man involved with this. We will get some news in Big Bash. Confirmed news. X is also involved in this. X get news from somebody – in Australia, a man who is also involved. He’s doing all a lot of things, he’s connected with a lot of people, the bookies and all.”
He later revealed: “You know the Big Bash there will only be 3 to 4 matches that will be fixed.”
Sobers insisted players could earn as much as £6million from carrying out fixes on IPL matches. He also claimed an Australian ex-cricketers had passed on information that they could sell on fixes for a handful of games. His partner Priyank Saxena also suggested their reporters fixes on the Bangladesh Premier League which this year features a host of top stars.
However, none of the cricketers is alleged to be involved in any wrong-doing.
