NEW DELHI: ICC chief executive David Richardson on Wednesday assured that there is no danger of the World T20 being compromised but said all the participating nations will be under scrutiny during the ICC event.
“I want to assure you that all teams will be under scrutiny. All teams who are participating in this event will be under monitoring to ensure that they are isolated from any attempt to corrupt them or the results of the matches,” Richardson said during a press conference.
Ronnie Flanagan, who heads the game’s anti-corruption unit, had said on Sunday that his investigators were looking into allegations that “members of a particular team had intentions to manipulate events in forthcoming matches”.
However, Richardson said: “So it is unfair to speculate about one team, all teams will be monitored and I want to assure you that there is no danger of this event being compromised.”
The comments made the other day referring to one team, may be, it was in the context to explain to people that we are aware about all these corrupt people who are swarming around the world, taking every opportunity to corrupt the players from many teams.
“He (Flanagan) cited the example of one particular team which we have become aware through reports from the players themselves about the approaches made to their team. So we were able to warn rest the teams that this chap is trying to corrupt you and that warning has come to all teams.”
World cricket’s governing body on Tuesday had warned that match-fixers are now targeting the game’s minnows. Hong Kong has been already rocked by a corruption scandal in the build-up to the event which has led to the suspension of their all-rounder Irfan Ahmed.
Commenting on the shifting of key Pakistan-India World T20 match from Dharmsala to Kolkata due to mounting tensions in Himachal Pradesh, Richardson said it was imperative under the circumstances but ruled out a sanction against the state cricket association in Himachal Pradesh.
“We had to make this decision for safety and security reasons. I don’t think it’s reasonable to suggest that we’ll be taking disciplinary action against the state association in that province.”
He added the BCCI could not be blamed for this because the state governments take responsibility for security.
“It’s unfortunate that these concerns have been raised essentially by the local government in recent times. If they had concerns like this, it would have been better if they had raised the matter earlier,” Richardson said.
He said the decision to switch the venue was not unprecedented, adding that he was confident of a successful tournament.
“ICC has not lost faith in India. There are huge logistical challenges. There are 59 matches in total across eight venues,” he said.
“India is a big and complicated country in many respects. There are challenges with every ICC event. It’s not unprecedented.”
Pakistan are due to play their opening match against a first-round qualifier in Kolkata on March 16 before the match against India three days later. They will also face New Zealand on March 22 and Australia on March 25, with both of those matches in Mohali.
“Fans would be given a full refund to the Dharamshala match or a ticket to watch the one in Kolkata,” Richardson said.
Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2016
