IPL 2021: Bookies employed cleaner to do 'pitch-siding' during a match in Delhi, says BCCI ACU chief

Amidst all the developments surrounding the postponement of the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL), the tournament has run into controversy. At the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, potential corrupters plugged an accredited cleaner for doing ‘pitch-siding’, a practice of sending information from sporting events for the purpose of directly placing bets or gambling.

The modus operandi was observed during one of the matches where a designated cleaner was using the time lag between actual match action and live TV coverage to help in ball-by-ball betting. The revelations were put forth by Shabbir Hussain Shekhadam Khandwawala, the BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit chief.

“One of my ACU officers caught a person and handed over the details to Delhi Police. While that particular offender managed to flee leaving behind his two mobile phones, ACU lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police,” Hussain, a former DG of Gujarat Police, was quoted as saying in India TV on Wednesday.

“We are thankful to Delhi Police that in a separate incident they caught two other persons from the Kotla on ACU tip-off,” he stated.

IPL 2021 marred with a mini-controversy

On Sunday, May 2, Delhi Police put behind the bars two people with fake accreditation cards during the IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

“So, on two separate days, these people managed to get access to Kotla. The one who fled came in the garb of a cleaner. However, we have all his details as he was employed for the tournament. His Aadhar Card details have been handed over to Delhi Police,” Hussain added.

“I am confident that he will be nabbed in a day or two. He is a small fry working for a couple of hundred or some thousand bucks maybe,” the ACU supremo said.

However, he also stated that the lower-rung staff might be used by a bigger syndicate as due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no access to hotels given the bio-secure bubbles.

Hussain also mentioned that during the Mumbai leg of the tournament, the hotel where the SRH players were staying, had three people with questionable records. Their names were in the ACU database as well, but they couldn’t come in contact with the players.