Guwahati: Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Member of Rajya Sabha from West Bengal Sushmita Dev alleges Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of match-fixing in the J K Baruah Inter-District Under 19 Cricket tournament.
In the letter to the Assam Chief Minister, the TMC alleges that the match between NF Railway and Jorhat was held in the DSA ground in Golaghat to betray the Silchar team.
Dev stated, “This to bring to your notice that in the J K Baruah Inter District U-19 Cricket Match between NF Railway and Jorhat held in Golagat DSA Ground there seems a clear conspiracy to betray Silchar to reach the finals who were heading the points table of the tournament.”.
TMC’s Dev alleges that the Jorhat team was handed a clear chance by the NF Railways to win the match by allowing them to achieve a run rate better than that of Silchar, thereby taking the lead in the points table.
She also added that the “Silchar U-19 team was sitting at the top of the table at four points whereas the other two teams, Jorhat and NF Railways were at two points each after two matches. In the two-day match, both Jorhat and NF Railways required a big victory to directly qualify for the finals.”
Whereas on the second day of the match it went into mandatory overs, that is, 11 overs out of 13 were played off, it was practically impossible for Jorhat to win the match. Hence both the umpires called off the match removing the bails off the stumps thereby signaling the end of the match.
Further expressing her disappointment, Dev wrote, “A major question which arises is whether the umpires can restart a match after calling off the match. Sports fraternity from all corners feels that this is a complete violation of the rules of the game”.
TMC leader further alleged that the coach of the Silchar team who was present there on the ground was assaulted and abused later on for raising his voice against the clear match-fixing. The Trinamool Congress Leader requested Assam Chief Minister to seek immediate intervention and asked the respected Government to investigate the matter personally so that the “Spirit of Cricket wins”.