West Indies all-rounder Marlon Samuels is accused of giving information to a bookie before the first ODI at Nagpur.
MUMBAI/NAGPUR: With just over a month to go for the World Cup, a West Indian player has been accused of providing information to a bookie. According to the Nagpur police, middle-order batsman and offspinner Marlon Samuels was caught on tape talking to bookie Mukesh Kochchar, who is believed to be linked with the underworld.
Samuels allegedly received a number of calls in his room, #206, a day before the first ODI in Nagpur on January 21. India won the match by 14 runs. Samuels scored 40 runs off 60 balls. The West Indies eventually lost the series 3-1.
Nagpur Police Commissioner SPS Yadav confirmed Samuel’s telephonic chat with Kochchar. “It was observed that one of the West Indian players, staying in room 206 of Pride Hotel, was talking to an underworld person, who is also a bookie, before the match,” Yadav told DNA.
Finding Samuel’s behaviour suspicious, police tapped his phone and allegedly found that the West Indian was passing on information about the match to Kochchar. The bookie, as police later discovered, was betting on the pitch and, probably, the team composition.
The officer is, however, not talking about match-fixing yet. “We are not saying [the match was fixed],” Yadav said. “We found the behaviour of Samuels was a breach of the ICC code of conduct [that no player should talk to an outsider during a match] and we have communicated the same to the BCCI.”
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has reserved comment.
The West Indies Cricket Board expressed shock. Tony Deyal, secretary, corporate communications, told DNA that the WICB is not aware of the incident. “We have not received any communication either from the BCCI or the ICC,” he said. “When we receive the communication, we will investigate the matter.”
Deyal said the WICB has a zero-tolerance policy towards drugs and gambling.
“Every contracted player of the West Indies Cricket Board is aware and has to comply with our guidelines,” he said in an emailed response. “But we’re talking about a young cricketer and we’ll not crucify him until we’ve complete evidence of his wrongdoing.”
The International Cricket Council said it is seized of the matter and its anti-corruption unit will get to the bottom of the case. “We’ve not seen or read any report on the incident, but we do know that Nagpur police have tapped the conversation of a player,” an ICC official told DNA from Dubai late on Wednesday night.
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