Vinod Kambli suspects match-fixing!

The last few years have been perhaps the most intriguing period for the cricket world. The last month or so have been the most astonishing ones yet in cricket’s history. While around a month back three Pakistan cricketers were jailed for the first time in the history of the Gentle man’s game, a few days earlier former ICC anti-corruption chief Paul Condon created a furore with his statement that ‘every major cricket nation was involved in match fixing at one point of time’. Now it is time for former India cricketer Vinod Kambli to hog the limelight for a while. In an interview with Star News, Vinod Kambli stated that he suspected that the semi final of the 1996 World Cup semi final, held at Kolkata, between India and Sri Lanka was fixed.

Kambli, while giving clarifications to his suspicions said that, the decision of then captain Mohammed Azharuddin to field after winning the toss was peculiar as batting first was what all playing nations did at that point of time when they won a toss. It might be remembered that Sri Lanka had made 251 in the match and set India a 252 run target. India managed to reach 98 for two till Sanath Jayasurya swung the match around in Sri Lanka‘s favor with a magical spell.

Indian batting collapse

Indians were left grappling at 120/8 due to the magical display of bowling. The spectators (unofficially estimated at 110,000) at this point of time in the match, got furious and went berserk at the batting collapse and started overturning chairs, setting up fires and throwing bottles. This made the match referee Clive LLoyd award the match to the Sri Lankans. Interestingly, both Azharuddin and Jadeja, who were later inspected for match fixing and given bans, were out for ducks in the match.

Kambli, while recalling the defeat and his subsequent tears after the match said: “I cried because I thought I was robbed of a chance to do it for my country. The entire team hugged me. Most of us were crying.”

Kambli even added that then team manager Ajit Wadekar was aware of everything that was going on. He went on to state:

“Something was definitely amiss. However, I was not given a chance to speak and was dropped soon after. Our team manager at that time Ajit Wadekar was aware of everything. He had even written an article afterwards that Vinod Kambli had been made a scapegoat.”

“We had been playing well during the entire World Cup and even defeated the likes of West Indies and Pakistan to reach the semifinal. Howver, this sudden exit from the game is bound to raise suspicion. Our openers were all set to bat, however, at the nick of time, we learnt we had to field. I got a huge shock after learning this. “

Manager refutes his claims

Kambli also stated that he got baffled as to why batsmen after Sachin Tendulkar‘s dismissal kept falling when they were told to go slow and hold the game. Moreover, the loss of six wickets for just 22 runs surprised him, especially after the Indian team faring so well throughout the tournament.

Interestingly though, Wadekar, who was beside him in the interview refuted the allegations levelled by Vinod Kambli then and there stating that the decision that India would field first was taken in the team meeting itself! Thus, this poses an important question for us all. Is Vinod Kambli‘s suspicion justified and was the Indian team really involved in match fixing then?

Vinod Kambli stated that the dismissal of most of the guys after Sachin Tendulkar was baffling yet he says “The entire team hugged me. Most of us were crying” after the match. If people were indeed involved in match fixing how come ‘most’ of them would cry and give him their shoulders to cry on? Isn’t the statement contradictory in itself?

Perhaps the true happenings would never come out in the open even if there was a fixing involved, but none the less this story does give credence to what Paul Condon had said a few days ago, of ‘all major cricket nations being involved in match fixing at one point of time or another’.