Bangladesh Premier League: Former captain Mohammad Ashraful under ICC scanner for alleged match-fixing

Yet another case of spot fixing in cricket but this time it is the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

Former Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful has been alleged to have fixed a match between Dhaka Gladiators and Chittagong Kings in BPL-2 where he was paid one million taka ($12,800) to lose the match held on 2^nd February.

The International Cricket Council is examining the match-fixing case, although Salim Choudhary, owner of Dhaka Gladiators, has denied any fixing in the match. Ashraful has also been reported to have fixed another match against Barisal Burners. His team had lost that match by 7 wickets.

A Bangladesh Cricket Board source had claimed that Ashraful is among the ones being questioned. Ashraful has been unreachable for any questions.

The ACSU, or Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, of ICC will be submitting a report on their enquiry.

“The ACSU is looking into allegations about the Bangladesh Premier League,” an ICC spokesman told AFP. “As the investigations are ongoing and to ensure the process is not jeopardised, we cannot share any further details at this stage,” he said.

BCB spokesman Jalal Yunus said, “After receiving the report from ACSU we’ll act in line with the BCB’s anti-corruption code of conduct.”

BCB have reportedly appointed the ICC officials at the cost of $255,000 to observe the BPL-2 that ended in February.

Earlier, Shariful Haque, an ex-international spinner, was banned from BPL-1 for being involved in match-fixing.

BCB had also banned umpire Nadir Shah for 10 years when he was found guilty of willing to fix matches for cash, in a sting operation by an Indian TV channel.