Chennai: Former Delhi and District Cricket Association secretary Sunil Dev has denied claiming that the fourth Test match between India and England in Manchester in 2014 was fixed and stated the report as “rubbish.”
A daily had reported in a sting video where Dev said that the Test match played at Old Trafford was fixed.
According to the report, Dev said that skipper M.S. Dhoni chose to bat first under cloudy conditions because the match was fixed, insisting that his decision came as a surprise to the team management as they had decided to bowl first in a team meeting.
The 67-year-old, who was the manager of the Indian team in that tour, claimed that he had informed then president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) N Srinivasan of the issue, adding that Srinivasan had appreciated the information but did not feel the need to make it public. Dev further slammed the BCCI, saying that India’s cricket governing body did not bother about these things as they had not reacted yet on the issue.
However, Justice Mukul Mudgal, who led the IPL spot-fixing probe panel, said he had no knowledge of this and rejected the claims.
In the match, India were all out scoring 152 in the first innings after electing to bat first. England replied with 367 to take a lead of 215 runs. India lost the match by an innings and 54 runs.
