The International Cricket Council (ICC) launched an appeal to find the one remaining alleged match-fixer from Al Jazeera’s recent documentary on fixing in the sport, on Tuesday.
Al Jazeera conducted a sting operation and aired a documentary titled Cricket’s match-fixers on May 27 showing Tharanga Indika, the Galle International Cricket Stadium’s assistant manager and curator, claiming to be able to prepare a pitch to suit the desired outcome, as per the instructions of Robin Morris, the former Mumbai and Odisha batsman.
The sting operation also claimed that the pitch used for the 2016 Test in Galle was doctored, where Australia were bowled out for 106 and 183, eventually losing the match by 229 runs. 18 Australian wickets fell to spinners as the visitors failed to bat more than 85 overs across both innings.
The ICC said the alleged fixer, known as Aneel Munawar, remains unidentified and called on the public or anyone in the cricket fraternity for information on the ‘mystery’.
“We have identified every other person in the original documentary and have spoken to a number of them in connection with match fixing, including those who are not deemed to be participants under our Anti-Corruption Code,” Alex Marshall, General Manager of ICC ACU, said.
“However the true identity of Aneel Munawar remains a mystery. He plays a significant role in the programme, yet enquiries with law enforcement and immigration sources have not identified or located him.
“As such we are appealing to the public or anyone from within the cricket family to contact us with any information that will lead us to identify and locate him. Police investigations often use such an appeal to locate people of interest and we are exercising the same approach” he added.
