The apex governing body, International Cricket Council (ICC) has said that it will look into the match-fixing allegations of the 2011 World Cup final, thrown by the then Sri Lankan Sports Minister.
The Sri Lankan cricket team met hosts India in the summit clash of the showpiece event at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
The Lankans decided to make four changes to their team which featured in the semi-finals against New Zealand on the eve of the final.
Thisara Perera replaced an injured Angelo Matthews, while Suraj Randiv, Chamara Kapudegara, and Nuwan Kulasekara came in for Ajantha Mendis, Chamara Silva and Rangana Herath.
To which, the ex-sports minister, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, and the administration wasn’t intimated about.
“I would not involve the cricketers in this. However, certain groups were definitely involved in fixing the game. The team who played the final match was not the team we had selected, finalized and sent off,” the minister suggested.
“At the last moment, without the consultation of either me as the then minister of Sports or officials of the Sri Lanka Cricket Control Board, four new players had been included to the team,” added Aluthgamage.
“We look forward to talking to him to see if there are any matters worthy of investigation,” one of the ICC representatives stated while talking to Newswire.
Earlier, former Lankan great Aravinda de Silva also demanded a probe investigating the 2011 ODI World Cup final. De Silva affirmed that it is derogatory for cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar, who won the prized title for his country.
Meanwhile, the then Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara rubbished the former minister’s claim and was seconded by Mahela Jayawardena who asked for pieces of evidence.
Mahela hit a sparkling ton in the final of the multilateral tournament, setting up a challenging total of 275 in front of the Indians. However, Lankan bowling fell short of the class of Indian captain MS Dhoni (91*) and Gautam Gambhir (97).
