CricketIndian bookie 'made 70 calls in a day' to Jadeja
An Indian newspaper has published records of heavy mobile phone traffic allegedly between a bookmaker and Ajay Jadeja, the former Test batsman suspended by the Indian cricket board after he was named in the Central Bureau of Investigation report on match-fixing last week.
India's Telegraph gave details of what it claimed were calls made to and from Jadeja by Ramesh Gupta, one of several illegal bookmakers named in the report, during New Zealand's tour to India last year.
The paper says that on November 13, the day before New Zealand beat India in Guwahati to level the one-day series at 2-2, Gupta (also known as Uttamchand) made 48 calls to Jadeja's mobile phone.
Then, the day before India clinched the series by winning in New Delhi on November 17, the bookmaker made 55 calls to Jadeja. He did not play but on match day was in the dressing room with his team-mates and received 31 calls.
The paper, which also published what it said were Jadeja's and Gupta's mobile phone numbers, said the bulk of the calls - generally to Jadeja rather than by him - were made on the eve of matches.
Gupta has been linked to his namesake Mukesh, another Indian bookmaker who told the CBI he had offered money to several Indian and foreign players, including the former England captain Alec Stewart.
According to the records, Gupta made 70 calls to Jadeja on the day before the series' second one-day international, in Hyderabad on November 8, following that with 33 calls on match day. On October 28, a day before the third Test in Ahmedabad, Gupta made 24 calls to Jadeja. On the first day of the match the cricketer received 13 calls, then 62 on the second day and 30 on the third.
Jadeja has told Indian match investigators that Gupta is a "fan" and a "well-wisher" and that there is nothing suspicious about his links with him.
Meanwhile, Brian Lara opened the West Indies tour of Australia with a run-a-ball century after what he described as a "tough week" in which he figured in the CBI report. Lara, who has denied the allegations of the bookmaker MK Gupta that he was paid £26,000 to underperform, flayed the Australian Board Chairman's XI attack in the traditional curtain-raiser at Lilac Hill, near Perth, as he and Sherwin Campbell (111) took the tourists to 276 for two from their 50 overs before the match was rained off.
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