Sanga and Mahela to be questioned over fixing claims
NEW DELHI/COLOMBO: A criminal probe in Sri Lanka into allegations of fixing in the 2011 World Cup final loss to India intensified after Kumar Sangakkara, skipper of the team, and Mahela Jayawardene, the centurion in the final, were asked to record their statements on Thursday before the sports ministry’s special investigating unit, the island’s media reports said. ICC’s anticorruption unit, however, has never said the match was under suspicion.
Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror quoted SSP WAJH Fonseka as saying that the investigating unit has summoned Sangakkara and Jayawardene to appear at 9am on Thursday. The probe was ordered after Mahindananda Aluthgamage, who was sports minister in 2011, alleged in an interview that the final was fixed by “certain parties”.
The investigators questioned Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup hero, Aravinda De Silva, who was chief selector during the 2011 World Cup, and Upul Tharanga, who was an opener in the final. Aluthgamage had recorded his statement on June 24.
India won the final by six wickets, chasing a 275 built on Jayawardene’s 103*. Gautam Gambhir (97) and skipper MS Dhoni (91*) led the successful chase at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
“I tell you today that we sold the 2011 World Cup final,” AFP quoted Aluthgamage as saying in the Sri Lankan media on June 18. “Even when I was sports minister I believed this. In 2011, we were to win, but we sold the match. I feel I can talk about it now. I am not connecting players, but some sections were involved.”
Jayawardene, who criticised the comments, tweeted his response: “Is the elections around the corner Looks like the circus has started Names and evidence?” Aluthgamage told Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror on June 19: “Mahela has said that the circus has started. I don’t understand why Sanga and Mahela are making a big deal about this. I am not referring to any of our players.”
Arjuna Ranatunga, captain of the 1996 World Cup team, had said three years back: “When we lost, I was distressed and I had a doubt. We must investigate what happened to Sri Lanka at the 2011 World Cup final.”