April 29, 2011: The ghost of match-fixing has returned to haunt international cricket, with former Sri Lanka skipper Hashan Tillakaratne claiming his country has been rigging matches since 1992. He also questioned the selections made for the World Cup final, which Sri Lanka lost to India by six wickets. March 2, 2011, Sri Lanka’s cricket authorities angrily denied allegations of match-fixing made against two of their players in their World Cup defeat to Pakistan. The state television channel speculated over whether Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera may have “changed the game” by getting out cheaply. The station added a local businessman had placed an $18,000 bet on Sri Lanka losing the game.
September 7, 2010: One of Sri Lanka’s main players is under investigation by the International Cricket Council on allegations of match-fixing. The unnamed player has been seen with another suspected match fixer, and was reported to the ICC by Sri Lanka’s then team manager Brendon Kurruppu. September 4, 2010: A top bookmaker in India has claimed that the December 15, 2009 India- Sri Lanka One-day match at Rajkot was suspicious. In that particular match, Sri Lanka had won the toss, elected to field and India had scored a mammoth 414 runs on a placid track. In reply, Sri Lanka were cruising along nicely with Tillakaratne Dilshan hitting 160 but fell short by 3 runs.
”Sri Lanka were 401-5 with just 14 more runs needed from seven balls. The bets were coming in fast because punters wanted to balance the stakes. At the start, India looked firm favourites and there were almost no takers for Sri Lanka win. But towards the end, it all became a frenzy,” said the bookie. The bookie also claimed that huge amount of money was transacted that night. “I am told that money around Rs 28 crore ($ 7m) changed hands that night,” he says. g March 17, 2010: The ICC it is learnt suspects Sri Lanka Cricket Interim Committee Secretary Nishantha Ranatunge‘s involvement in match fixing.
The suspicion had been caused following an inquiry held in to the matter after receiving information to the effect from former Sri Lanka Cricket manager, Brendan Kuruppu. It has been said that Brendan Kuruppu was removed from his post as Sri Lanka Cricket Manager by Nishantha Ranatunge after hearing that Kuruppu had informed the ICC details about match fixing. It has now been revealed that the defeats experienced by the Sri Lanka cricket team, especially the defeats in the Sri Lanka-Pakistan test match in Galle last June, Sri Lanka-Pakistan 20-20 match in August and the Sri Lanka-India one day match at Raj Court (where Sri Lanka chased a target of 414 runs and fell short of only three runs to win the game) were all fixed.
g November 6, 2000: Desmond Fernando, the special anti corruption investigator, appointed by the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL), was asked to investigate allegations made by Indian bookmaker Mukesh Guptha that Arjuna Ranatnga and Aravinda de Silva accepted money to under perform in the 1994 tour of India. Arjuna Ranatunga has firmly denied having ever knowingly meet Mukesh Gupta and having ever under performed in return for money. Aravinda de Silva admits to having been approached by bookmakers, but denies having ever been involved in match fixing.
