Why Al Jazeera's cricket fixing claims should be heard

DAVID HARRISON, the channel’s investigative reporter and formerly of The Sunday Telegraph, explains why people should watch the programmes and make up their own minds

They are the documentaries that shook the world of cricket: ‘Cricket’s Match-Fixers’ and its sequel ‘The Munawar Files’ were the result of a 18-month investigation by Al Jazeera’s investigative unit into the murky world of corruption.

It was a long, arduous and at times dangerous investigation. We spent many months undercover, infiltrating criminal gangs.

In the first film we exposed Indian match-fixers planning to set up a corrupt tournament in Dubai. They would pay former internationals to deliver spot-fixes in every match. We met and filmed, using concealed cameras, a former Pakistan international and two former Sri Lanka internationals agreeing to take part.

Al Jazeera covertly filmed match-fixers and a groundsman explaining how they prepared Test match pitches in Sri Lanka in a way that guaranteed the matches would not end in a draw – allowing them to make money by betting against a draw. 

Our biggest coup, however, was exposing an Indian match-fixer known as Aneel Munawar. Unlike the other match-fixers, Munawar is part of a powerful mafia involved in extortion, drug-running and arms smuggling as well as cricket match-fixing.

^{Al Jazeera's documentaries have caused debate in the cricket community}

Al Jazeera convinced Munawar, over a period of months, that we were wealthy British businessmen acting for crooked investors who wanted to buy information about spot-fixes.

Munawar gave us advanced details of spot-fixes in an India v England Test match at Chennai in December 2016 and later in an India v Australia Test at Ranchi in March 2017 – in return for a slice of our winnings after the fixes had been carried out.

During our meetings, all recorded, Munawar explained in detail how the fixes worked and how much money was paid, sometimes to individual players but more often a lump sum (up to $1.2m, depending on the team) paid via a middleman who negotiated with a team official. 

After the England match, Munawar named three players he said were involved in the alleged fix. But he said that his “company” – later confirmed by police to be D-Company, the south Asian mafia – did not care who carried out the fixes as long as they were delivered.

The spot-fixes were based on a team’s total score at the end of a 10-over session. Munawar identified the session, gave us the bookies’ prediction for the score and said it would come in below that.

He also said the score in the last over of the fixed session would be a manda (yielding no more than two runs). In both matches the spot-fixes went down exactly as he said they would.  

In the second documentary we revealed more details about Munawar. Indian police among other sources confirmed that Munawar has worked as a match‑fixer since at least 2010. He works for D-Company, the mafia run by Dawood Ibrahim, one of the world’s most wanted men.

^{The films focused on spot-fixing in the sport} 

He regularly called in details of fixes to (and occasionally visited) an illegal gambling operation in Ahmedabad, run by Dinesh Kalgi, a known gangster.

Kalgi, also linked to D-Company, recorded all calls to his operation at the Sudama Resort, from gamblers placing bets – and from Munawar.

One of our sources who worked at the Sudama obtained recordings of Munawar calling in fixes before the start of matches in 2011/12. After the first documentary was broadcast he passed the recordings to us.

They reveal details of 26 spot-fixes in 15 international matches phoned in to Kalgi and his right-hand man Dinesh Khambhat.

The 15 matches include Tests, one-day internationals and World T20 games and involve the world’s leading teams.

Twenty-five of the 26 “predictions” went down exactly as Munawar had said – and the one that failed was because the batsmen scored just one run too many.

A UK firm of sports betting analysts said the chances of 25 out of the 26 predictions happening without any fixing was 9.2m to one.

All the spot-fixes were ‘session-fixes’ (of 10-, eight- or six-over sessions) and in many cases included a second spot-fix – a maiden or manda in the last over.

The evidence allegedly points to a small group of England players carrying out spot-fixes in seven matches; Australia players in five and Pakistan players in three, with players from other teams carrying out spot-fixes in one of their team’s matches. In some cases, both teams appear to have delivered a fix. 

The methods and language used by Munawar in 2011–12 are identical to those he used in 2016–17.

Al Jazeera think it extremely likely that the players at the crease when the fixes went down were knowingly involved in them. However, the further investigation we are calling for is needed to make things 100 per cent certain.

Al Jazeera is therefore preparing material, based on many hours of footage and recorded phone calls, for handing over to law enforcement authorities.

An ECB statement said: “ECB takes its responsibilities on anti-corruption and preserving the integrity of cricket very seriously. While the limited information we have been given by Al Jazeera is poorly prepared and lacks clarity and corroboration, it has been properly assessed.

“Analysis of this by the ECB integrity team has cast no doubt on the integrity or behaviour of any England player, current or former.

“The materials we have been given have been referred to the ICC’s Anti-Corruption unit and we will continue to work with them, as is the correct procedure for protecting the game.”

You can still watch Al Jazeera’s ‘Cricket’s Match-Fixers’ and ‘Cricket’s Match-Fixers: The Munawar Files’ on YouTube

This article appears in the December edition of The Cricketer, available online and in all good newsagents now. Click here for subscriptions