Vinod Kambli's comment to a television news channel on the 1996 World Cup semi-final has stirred up the cricketing community. Kambli claimed that he felt "something was amiss" and suspected the match versus Sri Lanka was fixed. He also said that he was stunned by Mohammad Azharuddin's decision to field first.
"I will never forget the 1996 match because my career ended after this and I was dropped from the team... I was standing on one side and on the other end my fellow batsman was telling me that we would chase the target. However, soon after they quickly got out one by one. I don't know what transpired... However, I was not given a chance to speak and was dropped soon after. Our team manager at that time Ajit Wadekar was aware of everything. He had even written an article afterwards that Vinod Kambli had been made a scapegoat." he said.
Sri Lanka won the first semifinal over India at the Eden Gardens when chasing a total of 251 for 8, the hosts slumped to 120 for 8 in the 35th over and that led to crowd disturbance. The match was then awarded to Sri Lanka by match referee Clive Lloyd.
Kambli's remarks were made during the course of a discussion on the ex-chief of ICC anti-corruption unit Lord Paul Condon's statements. In an interview to the London Evening Standard he had said that in the late 1990s, Test and World Cup matches were being routinely fixed.
The claims have met with strong reactions. Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar who was part of the playing XI for that match took to his Twitter stream to refute Kambli's claims. He said that the decision to field first in the 1996 World Cup semi-final may have turned out to be a wrong decision but it was an honest cricketing decision
Many feel that if Kambli did indeed have doubts then he should have expressed them 15 years ago or at least during the course of the match fixing investigation. Moreover, Sri Lanka had established themselves as fantastic chasers in the 50 over format during the 1996 World Cup which would have had some kind of influence on the decision to bat first.
Vinod Kambli's unsubstantiated claims have in no doubt proved to be headline-worthy but the intention behind them being made now is still up for debate.
"I will never forget the 1996 match because my career ended after this and I was dropped from the team... I was standing on one side and on the other end my fellow batsman was telling me that we would chase the target. However, soon after they quickly got out one by one. I don't know what transpired... However, I was not given a chance to speak and was dropped soon after. Our team manager at that time Ajit Wadekar was aware of everything. He had even written an article afterwards that Vinod Kambli had been made a scapegoat." he said.
Kambli's remarks were made during the course of a discussion on the ex-chief of ICC anti-corruption unit Lord Paul Condon's statements. In an interview to the London Evening Standard he had said that in the late 1990s, Test and World Cup matches were being routinely fixed.
The claims have met with strong reactions. Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar who was part of the playing XI for that match took to his Twitter stream to refute Kambli's claims. He said that the decision to field first in the 1996 World Cup semi-final may have turned out to be a wrong decision but it was an honest cricketing decision
Many feel that if Kambli did indeed have doubts then he should have expressed them 15 years ago or at least during the course of the match fixing investigation. Moreover, Sri Lanka had established themselves as fantastic chasers in the 50 over format during the 1996 World Cup which would have had some kind of influence on the decision to bat first.
Vinod Kambli's unsubstantiated claims have in no doubt proved to be headline-worthy but the intention behind them being made now is still up for debate.
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