How Indian sports websites conducted a fake cricket tournament in Sri Lanka

[Zaib_Mirza]

Suspicions have arisen with regard to an alleged on-going cricket tournament titled the Uva Premier League T-20 in Sri Lanka.

The tournament consisting of 4 teams, the Wellawaya Vipers, Monaragala Hornets, Badulla Sea Eagles Mahiyanganaya Unilions, is said to be captained by former Cricketers T.M. Dilshan, Farveez Maharoof, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Tushara.

Various Indian websites had reported on social media that the Tournament which commenced at the Badulla Cricket Grounds on Monday (29) will continue till 05 July, displaying live scorecards of the match.

However, inquiries at the Badulla Cricket Grounds had revealed that no such match had taken place in recent days.

A facebook page under the handle Uva Premier League T20 had reported that the Uva Province Cricket Association had granted approval for the tournament.

When inquired, Deputy Chairman of the Uva Province Cricket Association Gayan Ovitigala said this was false news and the Association is not involved in any manner.

He added that the Uva Province Cricket Association will take legal action with regard to the incident in the future.

All cricket tournaments were suspended world over due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, it’s been suspected that the fake Uva Premier League T20 is being conducted by bookies from India and other countries.

Farveez Maharoof, who is portrayed as the captain of one of the playing teams, said it is regrettable that his name along with three other former cricketers was included in this fake tournament.

“No one contacted me in this regard. I do not have any reason to take part in such a tournament. I have filed a complaint with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in this regard” he said.

Meanwhile, Sachithra Serasinghe, whose name was included in the live scorecard of a match reported to have taken place yesterday (30), said he is unaware of such a tournament.

“No Sri Lankan Cricketer will get involved in such a tournament. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has been informed of this incident. The Anti- Corruption Unit and the International Cricket Council (ICC) have also been notified of this matter” he said.

Commenting on the fake tournament, Sri Lanka Cricket that neither SLC nor its affiliates have any knowledge or any involvement with the fantasy Tournament.

CEO of SLC, Ashley De Silva said that he had directed the Anti-corruption officer of SLC to look into the matter and it was reported by the said Officer that no such tournament is being played in Sri Lanka.

The SLC said that as such, it wishes to clarify that the said Tournament is neither sanctioned by SLC nor organized by any of its affiliates and therefore, SLC assumes no responsibility with regard to the said Tournament.

The SLC further said it is constantly on the lookout for intellectual property infringements by unauthorized parties and has resorted to taking appropriate legal actions to prevent such incidents. (Newswire)

http://www.newswire.lk/2020/07/01/indian-sports-websites-conduct-fake-cricket-tournament/

 

[Abdullah719]

What on earth...

 

[Cryin Out Loud]

Well this beats the band.

 

[topspin]

Now we know what Indian IT guys do in their spare time lol

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Another feather in our cap.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

This is trolling of the highest level.

Imagine if some genius made money with online betting

Wow. I applaud the imagination. When is the Bollywood movie coming?

 

[Thomaskutty]

I ocassionally take a punt or two on Betway during India ODIs. If you browse through the cricket section, you can often see live listings of some local t20 league nobody's heard of in some obscure part of India/SL ..turns out if was all a giant hoax to fool the bettors.

 

[Cryin Out Loud]

I wonder how the online commentary goes on that one.

0.1 Ajantha Mendis over the wicket to M. Dilshan, 4 runs, magnificent shot by Dilshan

No wait what? What were the odds again? Ok sorry folks that wasn't Mendis, it was Muralithatran, and Dilshan is bowled first ball.

That may also change though. But I hope you got your bets in

0.2 An elephants has just walked up to bowl the second ball, defended gently back by Sanga. What were the odds on a pachyderm bowling....don't tell me I already know. But I bet YOU didn't.

0.3. We're conducting an online poll to let 'fans' decide how the next ball should go, be sure to vote!

 

[Saj]

Incredible.

I guess punters lost cash on this.

 

[Zaib_Mirza]

UVA Premier League T20 in Sri Lanka turns out to be fake tournament held in a Punjab village suspected to be organised by bookies.

 

[MenInG]

How is this even possible? No one noticed?

 

[Bewal Express]

Full marks for creativity.

 

[MenInG]

A T20 tournament played near Chandigarh but broadcast as a Sri Lankan domestic game has caught the attention of the BCCI anti-corruption unit, the Punjab police, and a little-known cricket association in Sri Lanka.

The Indian Express reported on Friday that a T20 on June 29 was held in Sawara village, 16km from Chandigarh, but was broadcast online as a Uva T20 League match held in Badulla, home of the Uva Province Cricket Association in Sri Lanka.

Officials belonging to the Punjab police said an investigation was on to ascertain whether a betting syndicate was involved. The BCCI said it was keeping an eye on the investigation, but only to get the details of those involved in the scam.

“Our process is on. When we will know about the people involved, we will update our database. We would like to know who was involved. However, only police can take action on this. As a BCCI enforcement agency, we have no jurisdiction over it,” BCCI anti-corruption chief Ajit Singh told PTI.

“If it was a BCCI approved league or had players’ participation, we could have taken against them. If this is done for the purpose of betting, it is a criminal offence and police has the jurisdiction over, we don’t,” he added.

‘A farce’

The Uva Province Cricket Association wasn’t not among the most active bodies and somebody had clearly done their research, according to Bhagiradhan Balachandran, assistant secretary of the association. “No such tournament was approved or held by our association. We are investigating this matter and are in discussion with Sri Lanka Cricket,” Bhagiradhan told PTI from Badulla.

“We are not the most active cricket association in Sri Lanka, so somebody did proper research on that and used our name.” - Bhagiradhan Balachandran, secretary, Uva Province Cricket Association.

“The whole thing seems like a farce. We are not the most active cricket association in Sri Lanka, so somebody did proper research on that and used our name. We have no idea about this and no Sri Lankan players were involved,” he added.

In a statement, Sri Lanka Cricket said, “Neither SLC nor its affiliates have any knowledge or any involvement with a fantasy tournament staged by an undisclosed party under the name and title of ‘Uva Premier League T20’.

“It was noted that several Indian websites have even advertised a scoreboard on June 29 stating that the Uva Premier League T20 is being played at the Badulla Stadium, but SLC wishes to confirm that no such tournament was taking place and or will be held in Sri Lanka,” the statement read.

SLC CEO Ashley De Silva said he directed the anti-corruption officer to look into the matter.

“As such, SLC wishes to clarify that the said tournament is neither sanctioned by SLC nor organised by any of its affiliates and therefore, SLC assumes no responsibility with regard to the said tournament.”

The SLC said it had resorted to taking appropriate legal actions to prevent such incidents.

Kuldeep Singh Chahal, Mohali’s Senior Superintendent of Police, said an investigation was in progress.

Kharar Pal Singh, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, said they had received an online complaint about the game following which two persons identified as Pankaj Jain and Raju were arrested on Thursday night.

“A case under Section 420 IPC (cheating) has been registered by the police. As per preliminary investigations, betting could be going on in the match which was held. Further investigations into the case are under progress,” Chahal told PTI.

Asked about how the match was held despite the COVID-19 lockdown, Chahal said, “All this is being investigated, that is why we have registered a case.”

https://sportstar.thehindu.com/cric...vince-cricket-association/article31980547.ece

 

[MenInG]

A day after The Indian Express reported about matches of Uva T20 League, purportedly being played in Sri Lanka, but actually held in Sawara village in Mohali district, the local police conducted raids at the hideouts of the two accused arrested on Thursday night. The Mohali Police had booked eight persons after a complaint was filed on Thursday evening and the two accused have been remanded to police custody till July 6.

The Uva Cricket Association in Sri Lanka had denied that they were organising any such tournament, that was shown live on YouTube. Prominent players like former Sri Lanka all-rounder Farvez Maharoof also said he was not involved. In fact, the matches only featured unknown players from Punjab.

“The eight persons involved in this case have been identified as Jolly Sardar, Pankaj, Goldy, Varun Kumar, Suveen, Raju Kalia, Jatinder Kumar Battu and Sahil Khurana of which Raju and Pankaj were arrested on Thursday night and the remaining persons are absconding. We are conducting raids at the hideouts of the accused,” Inspector Sukhbir Singh, Station House Officer, Kharar (Sadar), told The Indian Express.

The Mohali Police is also verifying about any past criminal cases registered against them. “The accused are bookies. We were verifying whether any criminal cases were registered against them,” a police officer investigating the case said.

Meanwhile, a police team comprising two officials from Majaat police station, where the complaint was filed, visited the SCA ground at Sawara village on Friday afternoon. The team was accompanied by two officials from the cyber security wing and collected the mobile data dump to identify the players involved in the matches played on June 29. “The match was held at the ground, we collected the dump to identify those who were involved,” the officer added.

Senior Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Singh Chahal said they have identified more people allegedly involved in organising the league. “Both Rajesh and Pankaj are bookies. We shall make more arrests in a day or two,” he added.

Two groundsmen, who also work on neighbouring fields, resumed their grass cutting at the ground and the nets moments after the police officials left. “I don’t know about any matches happening at the ground. I came to the ground on Tuesday and cut the grass and have been doing the same for the last three days. Earlier, there used to be 2-3 trainees from nearby villages who came for training but they too have not come for a long time,” said one of them.

Big names like Farvez Maharoof, the former Sri Lanka allrounder, denied they were involved, as had been claimed in the list of squads published on some online cricket sites.

While the main entrance to the village sees a lot of cars stopping to buy local garden mangoes, a few furniture and sweet shops are also open nowadays.

One of the shop owners, who saw 4-5 cars carrying players in coloured clothing, said it was a bit unusual to see the rush of cars on Monday. “IPL varge kapde paye si players ne te 3-4 cars ayi si. (The players were wearing clothing like in the IPL and came in 3-4 cars). Usually, some corporate or local club matches take place at the ground and village kids go to watch them. But due to Covid restrictions and the manner in which the matches were held on Monday, nobody went to watch. The village panchayat should take action against the academy and land owners for violating Covid-19 guidelines,” the shop owner said.

The Indian Express also visited some of the other cricket academies in nearby villages near the Strokers Cricket Association ground and one of the coaches confirmed that he had also got a call from an unknown number regarding booking the ground for the last week of June and first week of July, supposedly the dates on which the UVA T20 league was to be held.

“I had got a call from an unknown number asking me to give our ground for rent for more than 10 days for a tournament to be played in June end and July first week. It might be the same organisers, who conducted the matches at Sawara village,” the coach said.

https://indianexpress.com/article/s...ke-sri-lanka-t20-online-betting-scam-6489062/