Cricket News: Indian women's team cricketer approached to fix matches

The Anti-Corruption Unit of the Board of Control for Cricket in India has registered a First Information Report against two individuals, Rakesh Bafna and Jitendra Kothari, at the Ashok Nagar Police Station in Bengaluru for an alleged attempt of match-fixing and cheating. According to the FIR, Kothari had approached the cricketer claiming to be a sports manager and offered her managerial services. However the player did not get into any agreement with Kothari. Later, Kothari approached her again and introduced Bafna claiming he had a business offer for her. Bafna offered her Rs 1 lakh per match if she joined hands with them ahead of the limited-overs home series against England. It has also been learnt that the alleged culprits had requested the player if the ODI captain of the team could also be roped in for the ‘plan’. On realizing that things were fishy, the cricketer recorded the conversation and reported the matter to the BCCI ACU. Since the incident happened before an ICC event, the ICC anti-corruption unit got into the business and after investigation, observed that “Bafna took advantage of Kothari’s ineptitude, and the player had rightly made a report of the approachment. Bafna was warned for his action and was reported to the BCCI and ICC.