Indian cricketer disqualified for 14 years for match-fixing

Professional cricketer Mehar Chhayakar has been disqualified for 14 years by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The reason for such a harsh punishment is his involvement in match-fixing. Chhayakar is not the first Indian cricketer to be disqualified for betting.

Chhayakar is a native of India, however, he has spent most of his career in the United Arab Emirates. In total, the player was found guilty of seven counts of violating the ICC and Cricket Canada code. The verdict was delivered by the ICC Anti-Corruption Tribunal.

All the charges related to matches played during the 2019 Zimbabwe-UAE series as well as the GT20 tournament held in Canada.

As part of the trial, two episodes of violation of Article 2.1.1, according to which a player is not allowed to influence any aspect of a match by intentionally lowering his results, were proven. In addition, he himself placed bets through mobile apps like Mostbet APP.

He was also proven to have twice violated Article 2.1.4, which provides for inciting, persuading, encouraging and otherwise influencing another player to violate the rules of Article 2.1.

Chhayakar twice violated Article 2.4.6, which describes the need for players to cooperate in corruption investigations. In particular, he was charged with providing false information to the investigation and destroying evidence. Actions of this nature are also a violation of Article 2.4.7m.

As noted by the ICC, Chhayakar’s illegal actions were linked to the crimes of other UAE players Qadir Khan and Ghulam Shabbir. Both have already been convicted and accepted punishment.

Alex Marshall, who serves as the general manager of the ICC Integrity Unit noted that investigators first came across Mehar Chhayakar in 2018, during the latter’s organization of a corrupt tournament in Ajman.

“The allegations under which he [Chhayakar] received a long term disqualification are yet another example of his continued actions to harm our sport,” Marshall noted.

The official also explained that the disqualification for a full 14 years is an example of the inevitability of severe punishment for the rest of the dishonest players. Marshall promised that the organization will continue to work to identify corruption in cricket.

Recall that the International Betting Integrity Association in the third quarter of last year marked as suspicious 76 cricket matches. Moreover, representatives of other sports are also punished for betting.