Sri Lanka arrests T20 team co-owner over match-fixing

Sri Lanka police arrested the Indian co-owner of a Lanka Premier League (LPL) team Friday, hours before the tournament was due to begin, on suspicion of trying to bribe players.

The suspect, identified as Manjot Kalra, was arrested at a hotel in Colombo as he was allegedly “about to pay” a player 9.5 million rupees ($28,700), inspector Supun Vidanage of the Sports Investigation Unit said.

He said Kalra would be produced before a magistrate soon.

The player had alerted police when he was first approached about 10 days earlier, Vidanage said, without naming him. Two other players had also been approached.

Sri Lanka Cricket, the governing body of the sport in the island, said the domestic T20 tournament will go ahead as planned on Friday night in the capital, Colombo.

The opening match of the tournament, which is in its sixth edition, is between the Jaffna and Galle teams. Kalra is a co-owner of the Jaffna team.

“Sri Lanka Cricket reiterates its unwavering commitment to protecting the integrity of the tournament and will not tolerate any form of corruption, misconduct, or foul play by any stakeholder associated with the league,” the board said in a statement.

Previous LPL tournaments were also marred by allegations of corruption.

In January, a Sri Lankan court handed the British owner of an LPL team a four-year suspended sentence over match-fixing.

Bangladesh-born Tamim Rahman, owner of Dambulla Thunders, admitted to attempting to influence a player and organise betting.

Rahman was handed a four-year jail term, suspended for five years. He was also fined 24 million rupees.

The conviction was in line with a strict 2019 law aimed at preventing corruption in sports in Sri Lanka.