Colombo: Sri Lankan sports ministry on Saturday ordered a probe into the allegations levelled by former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage, who claimed that the national cricket team’s loss against India in 2011 ICC World Cup Final was fixed by “certain parties”.
In an official statement, current sports minister Dullas Alahapperuma ordered the probe and sought a bi-weekly report.
Acting on the directives of Alahapperuma, sports secretary KADS Ruwanchandra complained to the ministry’s investigation unit on Saturday.
Former Sports minister had alleged that his country sold the game to India. His claims, however, were later ridiculed by former skippers Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. They also sought evidence to support his allegations.
In an interview, Aluthgamage stated that the final was fixed. It is to be recalled that after Sri Lanka set a big target of 275 runs in 50 overs, riding on the brilliant knocks of Gautam Gambhir (97) and captain MS Dhoni (91*), India registered a comprehensive victory to lift the trophy.
“Today I am telling you that we sold the 2011 world cup, I said this when I was the sports minister,” Aluthgamage, who was the sports minister at the time, said.
“As a country I do not want to announce this. I can’t exactly remember if it was 2011 or 2012. But we were to win that game,” added Aluthgamage, who was serving as the state minister of power in the current caretaker government which is at the helm until the polls are conducted on August 5.
Sangakkara, who was the captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team in 2011 World Cup asked him to produce evidence for an anti-corruption probe.
“He needs to take his ‘evidence’ to the ICC and the Anti corruption and Security Unit so the claims can be investigated thoroughly,” he tweeted.
He needs to take his “evidence” to the ICC and the Anti corruption and Security Unit so the claims can be investigated throughly https://t.co/51w2J5Jtpc
— Kumar Sangakkara (@KumarSanga2) June 18, 2020
Rubbishing the claims, Jayawardene, who scored a hundred in the game and has also served as the captain of the national side, tweeted, “Is the elections around the corner…like the circus has started…names and evidence?”
Aluthgamage has alleged that there were no players who had fixed the result of the match but there were certain parties who did this. The politician has earlier also hinted that the match was fixed.
Aluthgamage and the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa had attended the final played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Former World Cup-winning skipper and a renowned figure in Sri Lankan cricket, Arjuna Ranatunga had demanded a transparent probe into the match-fixing allegations in the 2011 World Cup final.
