{"id":230008,"date":"2015-01-16T15:40:52","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T10:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tehelka.com\/?p=230008"},"modified":"2015-01-16T15:40:52","modified_gmt":"2015-01-16T10:10:52","slug":"match-fixing-scandal-forget-the-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/match-fixing-scandal-forget-the-fix\/","title":{"rendered":"Match-fixing scandal: Forget the Fix"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ipl_scandal\"
Multiple choice <\/b>In the IPL, gamblers had the option of placing bets on more than 100 outcomes, Photo: AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nWhen she lived in Dubai, the late Sunanda Pushkar mingled with Indian cricketers, who visited the Emirate. She rubbed shoulders with them at parties and loved being involved in the world of cricketer-celebrities. She wasn\u2019t fond of the gentleman\u2019s game. But given the \u2018Sunanda in Cricket Wonderland\u2019 dream-world that she lived in, she cajoled her husband (then boyfriend), Shashi Tharoor, a Union minister in the UPA government at that time, to purchase a team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2010.
\nIt led to a tragedy and controversy. As Tharoor\u2019s friends bid for the Kochi team, it was disclosed that Pushkar was given a stake in the franchise in perpetuity and for free. Tharoor resigned as a minister due to allegations that this was a bribe. A few years later, Pushkar died in Suite 345 of the Leela Palace hotel in New Delhi. Now, it has emerged that she was murdered and her husband may be the prime accused. A day before she died, she told her friends that she would expose the corruption in the IPL. Was there a connection between Dubai, cricket, IPL and Pushkar\u2019s death?
\nIt is in the realm of possibility. Evidence that was unearthed over the past few years indicates that the IPL (and T20 cricket) has adversely affected the cosy, comfortable and closely-knit network of mafia, bookies, punters, gamblers and errant players who fixed matches. It has shattered the world that these actors rebuilt after the match-fixing quakes in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
\nTo understand what has happened in the past few years since the IPL\u2019s first season in 2008, let us go back to a match in the IPL-5 season. At a small pub in Saket (south Delhi), a dozen individuals, aged between 19 and 25, sat around several connected tables. Fifteen minutes before the match, they were on their mobiles. From the snatches of conversations, it was evident that they were placing bets on who will win, what will be the score of the team batting first and which batsman will score the maximum runs. This was normal illegal gambling in cricket.
\nAs the match began and progressed, apart from the wagers on the bigger outcomes, they were talking about runs that will be scored in a particular over (every over), sixes and fours in a specific over, and even the number of no-balls and wides in an over. They even jabbered about each batsman and bowler \u2014 will a player score between 10 and 20, 20 and 30 or more than 50, and will a bowler give five, 10 or more runs in his over. This showed different dimensions of illegal betting; it was different from the practices of the past three decades.
\nFirst, it proved that the gamblers had more options. Earlier, you could place bets on four-five major outcomes; in the IPL, the number stretched to almost 100, or may be more. Second, it busted the much-believed myth that a Dubai-based cartel, mafia or syndicate controlled illegal betting. There was no way that such an organisation, or organisations, could provide the odds for every ball, over and batsman. It had to be done by the regional or city-based bookies.
\n
\"Easy
Easy pickings <\/b>Anyone who had the money and access to players could manage a \u2018fix\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThird, the incident confirmed that illegal betting was democratised, fragmented and competitive. Each bookie (the one who takes the bets), at least theoretically, was capable of setting the odds for different outcomes. If this was the case, then each bookie could \u2018fix\u2019 players and\u00a0matches to earn extravagant profits. The punters, or big betters, could do the same. If there wasn\u2019t a mafiosi in control, anyone who had the money and access to players could manage a \u2018fix\u2019.
\nFinally, thanks to the IPL, a shorter format of 20 overs compared to one-day matches (50 overs), even the nature of match-fixing has transformed. It is no longer critical for the bookies and punters to ensure that a team loses \u2014 for which they had to buy five-six key players \u2014 as they did in the past. What is crucial in the IPL is knowledge \u2014 the information that odds for a particular outcome, small or big, will change during a game. For that, one needs to fix just one-two players. In a sense, hedging is more important than fixing. We will explain later why this is so.
\nThese changes were visible from the investigations by the Mumbai and Delhi Police into the IPL-6 (2013 season) match-fixing scandal that involved several cricketers, including former Team India player S Sreesanth and dozens of bookies and punters.
\nGambling galore<\/strong>
\nOne can\u2019t be sure which came first, the chicken or the egg, the crowds or increase in the number of gamblers. But one can reconstruct the underlying trends that led to the radical transformation of illegal betting and match-fixing in the IPL. The advent of T20 cricket created immense excitement due to its fast pace; each over, and each ball, could turn a game on its head. The IPL took it to another level due to the marriage between cricket, money, entertainment and glamour.
\nIn its first season, the IPL attracted big crowds, especially those who sat in front of TVs. It attracted the gamblers who saw opportunities to make money. Technically, the chances of a \u2018fix\u2019 were higher. There were dozens of matches that were irrelevant to the teams because it didn\u2019t matter who won or lost due to their positions on the points\u2019 table. The logic was that it would be easier to persuade the players of these teams to \u2018give\u2019 away the games.
\nFormer Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar, who was in charge of the 2013 investigations, said that one of the reasons behind corruption in the IPL was the inclusion of young players, some of whom had never played first-class cricket, in the IPL teams. Enamoured by the glitz and riches, they were susceptible to overtures made by the illegal betters. These cricketers could easily be bought by paying Rs 40-60 lakh per match, as was the case with the two Rajasthan Royals bowlers, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, who were accused of fixing.
\nMore crowds meant more gamblers, especially in India where people bet on anything and everything, like the official death toll in a natural calamity and whether the next car that passes by will have an odd or an even number. More opportunities implied more bookies as they recognised the chances to mint money. After IPL-1, the illegal gambling market exploded.
\nFate of the syndicate<\/strong>
\nAlmost everyone believes that Dubai-based mafia groups, especially the D-Company headed by Dawood Ibrahim, who lives in Pakistan, control illegal betting and match-fixing in the subcontinent and West Asia. Nilay Dutta, a member of the Justice Mudgal committee, was convinced about it. (The Mudgal committee was asked by the Supreme Court to probe the IPL\u2019s match-fixing scam in 2013.)
\nIn his minority report, Dutta claimed that illegal betting \u201csurvives and flourishes by the muscle power of the underworld\u201d. He added that the main mafia syndicate involved in the racket was headed by Dawood. His henchmen \u201cintimidated the various actors of this syndicate to comply with their directions. Threats of use of violence were used to settle disputes connected with payments as well as to intimidate players who failed to perform after accepting gifts\/girls\/money\u201d.
\nIt was the cartels that set the odds for the gamblers. They asked their gangsters to set up a close, but expanded, network of bookies, who interacted with the punters and other betters. Players, umpires, administrators and officials were \u2018fixed\u2019 rather directly by the mafia or through the loyal bookies. The updated \u2018Bhao and Dabba\u2019 system was used to communicate the odds and receive bets.
\nBhao is a wireless link between the mafia and bookies to get the changing odds on a regular basis. Dabbas are mobile phones with modified SIMs that are distributed to the punters and gamblers. These instruments cannot receive calls, but make them to a single pre-programmed number. The better calls this number and an operator on the other end continuously parrots the odds for the various outcomes. To place a wager, the gambler loudly says the amount and the specific bet. It is duly recorded at the other end in a register or Excel spreadsheets.
\nLike any efficient system, this has a deficiency. In the three-way communication \u2014 between the mafia and bookies, bookies and gamblers, and gamblers and bookies \u2014 the odds can be set only for a few outcomes. There are two reasons for this. One, it is difficult for the parroting operator to repeat dozens of odds, and give enough time to the gamblers to act. Two, and more important, it is almost \u00adimpossible for a syndicate to set the odds for each ball and over, get it across to the bookies and receive the bets within the short time of a few seconds and minutes.
\n
\"Fall
Fall guy <\/b>Rajasthan Royals player S Sreesanth has been the most high-profile catch in the IPL scandal<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nTherefore, in the pre-IPL era, the cartels focussed on a few outcomes like runs scored in the first 10-15 overs, total in an innings, highest score by a batsman and a team\u2019s win or loss. Once the bookies added more outcomes to their menu during the IPL and gamblers demanded bets on each ball and over, the syndicates lost their stranglehold. They still decided the odds on the main outcomes, but the bookies and punters had a free hand to woo gamblers on the minor ones.
\nPerhaps, this explains why Chandila dealt with several bookies, as is evident from the Delhi Police\u2019s transcripts of his calls. He interacted with Chandresh Patel, Bhupender Nagar cartel and Tinku Mandi. He also received money from Deepak Kumar and gifts from Sunil Bhatia. Asad Rauf, the Pakistani umpire, who was charged with sharing information with bookies, received money and gifts from the Jaipur brothers and Prem Taneja (through his brother).
\nFix the odds<\/strong>
\nTwo trends emerged from the freedom that the bookies gained. If people increasingly gambled on the minor outcomes, only one-two not-so-known players had to be \u2018fixed\u2019. For innings total, win or loss, the mafia had to ensure that at least five-six major players, including the captain preferably, were paid off. This was no longer the case, as the bookies and punters could woo a non-descript bowler or two to give away certain runs in an over, or a batsman or two to get out cheaply.
\nSreesanth, Chandila and Chavan played to the new script. They were paid to give away at least 13 or 14 runs in the second over that they bowled in different games during IPL-6. The trio were urged to give pre-determined signals so that their puppeteers could place the bets. The bowlers tried hard to keep their promises. For example, Sreesanth bowled four short-pitched balls and two fuller ones, all of which could be hit for boundaries. In fact, he took his hand away as Adam Gilchrist (Kings XI Punjab) played a fuller one straight down the wicket to give away a boundary.
\nAs each over and ball became important, it had an impact on the nature of betting. The new name of the game was to fix the future odds, and not the match. In the IPL, and any T20 game, one or two overs in the beginning or the end of an innings can significantly influence the end-result. This is evident from the above examples. For instance, Sreesanth\u2019s over provided the momentum to Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh to add 102 runs for the second wicket. Chavan\u2019s over, which yielded 15 runs, including two sixes, helped the batsman to race away to 23 off 12 deliveries.
\nThe fact is that one or two bad overs will change the odds for the bigger outcomes like runs scored in the first 10 overs or innings total. For example, if a team is expected to make 130-140 runs, the chances of it reaching 150 go up if 14-15 runs are scored in the fourth or fifth over. Therefore, the odds for the team to score 130-140 runs, or more than 150, alter immediately. Thus, if someone has fixed an over, he is sure to place his bets in a manner to account for this.
\nIn his book, Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy, Ed Hawkins wrote that the ability to move the odds in a global betting market, legal or illegal, and knowing that it will happen, \u201cis a trick of the gambling gods. At the click of their fingers or a computer mouse, the Indian bookmaker dictates to the rest of the world\u201d.
\nIf a bookie knew how the future odds will change in any match, be it cricket or football, his opportunities to earn huge profits multiply.
\nIf someone like Pushkar, who possibly had inside knowledge, threatened to expose the new dynamics of illegal betting, she had to be silenced. Any stakeholder in this illegal trade, be it the mafia, bookies, punters or individuals involved in the IPL, could be involved.
\nletters@tehelka.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunanda Pushkar\u2019s murder indicates that the IPL has changed the dynamics of match-fixing and illegal betting. The mafia has lost its stranglehold over the illicit business, says Alam Srinivas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":230069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[56],"tags":[9215,9228,1163,1470,9229,9230,9231,9232,9233,9234],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230008"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}