– Subhayan Chakraborty from Cape Town
Bangladesh cricket has once again been rocked by corrupt approaches. A key player of the Bangladesh cricket team currently participating in the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa has been allegedly offered a spot-fixing proposal by another senior cricketer, who is not a member of the team for the showpiece tournament.
Shohely Akhter, a senior cricketer, had approached Lata Mondal with a corrupt approach ahead of Bangladesh’s match against Australia in the T20 World Cup. It is important to note that Mondal was dropped from the playing XI for the crucial match, which Australia won by 8 wickets on Tuesday in Gqberha.
RevSportz has listened to the audio recordings of the conversation between Akhter and Mondal, also aired on Bangladesh channel Jamuna TV.
Akhter has since admitted to receiving an offer from a notorious gambler Aakash, whom she introduced to Mondal as her cousin. Akhter claims that she knew Aakash from Facebook and the latter had challenged her that all players are corrupt. Akhter claims she had given the proposal to Mondal just to prove Aakash wrong.
Mondal was handed out a proposal of 20-25 lakh for getting hit-wicket while for stumping, the offer was of 5 lakh. However, as per the audio recordings, Mondal was heard refusing straight away while urging Akhter not to come up with such fixing offers.
The 30-year-old Mondal has since reported the incident to the Bangladesh team management and BCB’s anti-corruption unit.
“The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is strictly looking into the matter and will investigate the issue,” sources told RevSportz.
After receiving the complaint from Mondal, the Bangladesh team management informed the International Cricket Council (ICC) about the development straightaway.
“Yes, the matter has been reported to us by the Bangladesh team management and Board. ICC Anti-corruption unit is looking into the matter and will follow the due process of investigation,” an ICC source told RevSportz.
Excerpts from the conversation between Shohely Akhter and Lata Mondal:
Shohely Akhter: There is nothing to be afraid of. I will never harm you. You can play (fix) when you want, and not play (fix) when you don’t want to. If you feel like playing (fixing), you can. It’s up to you which match you want to play (fix). Suppose you played well in a match, then you can play (fix) in the next match. You may get stumped or hit -wicket. If you say you won’t get hit-wicket for 20-30 lakhs then get stumped for 5 lakh. If you feel it is less then you can say it. Then I’ll tell my brother. Just remember that this is between you and me.
Lata Mandal: Friend, I’m not into all these. I can’t do such things. Please, don’t tell me such things.
Akhter: Friend, what I told you will remain between you and me. Trust me a hundred percent.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh have lost both their matches so far in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
(This is a developing story)