The International Cricket Council (ICC) has called a report in the Times of India regarding a World Cup match between Australia and Zimbabwe under the cloud of spot fixing as “fictional”.
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said Wednesday the article in Tuesday’s “newspaper made a number of claims about an ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 match between Australia and Zimbabwe that can only be described as fictional.” .
?We do not comment on the activities of the ICC?s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) and for good reason. However, after several misleading and downright false stories appearing in recent weeks it is time for us to show our displeasure and expose those responsible for affecting the integrity of the media,” he said.
?It is also patently false of the reporter to claim that the ICC ever suggested to it that the match was corrupted. The ICC confirms that, in terms of its policy, at no stage did anyone from the ICC speak to the journalist on this topic,” Lorgat said.
He urged the paper to retract the story.
According to the Times of India report, the Mumbai crime branch busted a match fixing racket from a hotel in Ahmedabad involving three men of international gangster Dawood Ibrahim, who sneaked into the hotel where the Australian team was put up to play Zimbabwe in the World Cup game on Feb 21.
Quoting unnamed sources, TOI said “the three D-company men stayed with the Aussie team in a five-star hotel in Satellite area and met them in the lobby where the deal was struck for spot fixing.”