PORT OF SPAIN – West Indies leg-spinner Samuel Badree has denied being involved in any kind match-fixing or spot fixing after his name was among six disclosed by the Supreme Court in India yesterday as part of the Justice Mukul Mudgal committee report that probed the allegations of betting and spot-fixing in the 2013 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
According to international and Indian media websites, the International Cricket Council chairman N Srinivasan, his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra, IPL CEO Sundar Raman along with three cricketers Stuart Binny, Badree and Owais Shah were all named in the report submitted to the Supreme Court. Reports suggested that the names of the three players – three of six named in the report – were inadvertently released.
Contacted by the Trinidad Express late Friday, Badree said: “It is first time I have seen this. I have not been contacted and I did not even know that this investigation was going on or that my name would have even been mentioned.
“I would have played with Rajasthan Royals in the particular season they are talking about in 2013 and a couple players from the Rajasthan Royals were involved in spot-fixing, so I suppose that through the investigation they would have come up with other names of persons who would have been in the team and so on.
“But I have no part in match-fixing or spot-fixing and as a matter of fact, in that season I played one game with Rajasthan Royals and I am very confused about how my name was in that report, especially without even being told about it prior to reading it on the internet this morning,” the West Indies Twenty20 spinner explained.
“I am waiting for further information because I don’t even know what context my name was mentioned in. I am strongly against any kind of match-fixing or spot-fixing,” Badree added.
The news reports also said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) cannot hold its annual elections until the board addresses issues related to the IPL.
The top court asked the BCCI, Srinivasan and other non-players who are named in the report to file their objections within four days. (Trinidad Express)
