Stung by fixing claims, Dhoni threatens to sue newspaper

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 11

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, embroiled in a strange, indirect match-fixing claim, has threatened to sue the newspaper that organised a sting operation on a Delhi cricket official and published the story.

The allegation against Dhoni, then captain of India in Tests as well as limited-overs formats, pertains to India’s tour of England in 2014. India lost the five-match Test series 1-3, though they had gone 1-0 up after winning the second Test in London. 

During the sting operation conducted by a Hindi newspaper, India’s manager on that tour, Sunil Dev, alleged that Dhoni deliberately chose to bat first on a wet wicket after winning the toss in the fourth Test in Manchester. Coming into the Manchester Test, the series was level at 1-1. India were bowled out for 152 in their first innings and 161 in the second, to lose the match by an innings and 54 runs. The match ended with over two days to spare.

The video of the sting has been uploaded on youtube.com; in it, Dev’s voice is clear and audible. He is heard saying that due to rain the day before the match started, the pitch was wet and the Indians, in a team meeting, had decided to bowl first in case they won the toss. “Yeh jaan ke haara hai, jaan ke fielding ki, match haarna thha (India lost deliberately by fielding first... because they were to lose the match),” he says. 

The reporter then asks: “The Indian captain had fixed the match?”   

Dev replies: “100 percent.”

Dev says that he complained about this to the BCCI. When asked if something was done, Dev says: “Who cares?” He says that he raised the matter with the BCCI, and that he had written to then BCCI president N Srinivasan about it. He says that he was asked to type his complaint in Srinivasan’s office, in front of him, “because he (Srinivasan) did not want the report to be leaked”. When asked if he had ever revealed the names of any cricketers involved in match-fixing, he said no, and implied that he feared for his life.

Stung-back?

The question to be asked is this — how credible are Dev’s claims? He was the manager of the team and thus could be considered an insider. It must be noted, however, that Duncan Fletcher was the team coach and Dev’s role was merely administrative — he, thus, wouldn’t have been consulted or advised on cricketing matters and strategies.

Dhoni has sent a legal notice to the concerned newspaper, which reads: “The said video contains footage of an absolute dubious sting operation of the aforementioned Mr (Sunil) Dev, which in the present circumstances is nothing but a false propaganda initiated by you to defame my client. In fact, the so-called Indian cricket official (Sunil Dev) who you have credited to be the source of information has strongly denied the incident.”

“Our client (Mahendra Singh Dhoni) reserves the right to institute proceedings for the recovery of damages up to Rs. 100 crores (1 billion) from you on account of the defamation, mental agony and trauma caused to him due to this by causing loss of his reputation,” the notice adds.