London/New Delhi, Oct. 24: The International Cricket Council has started an inquiry into the reason why the Board of Control for Cricket in India did not promptly inform it about a report linking Indian Test player Suresh Raina with an associate of an illegal bookmaker, a newspaper here has reported.
The Sri Lankan cricket board, a report in the Sunday Times claimed, had submitted a report, including CCTV footage, of Raina being seen in the company of a woman known to be an associate of a man allegedly linked to an illegal bookmaker. The incident took place during the Indian tour of Sri Lanka earlier this year.
The Board of Control for Cricket, however, rubbished this, saying that the woman in question was the agent of the Indian batsman.
“That is untrue and baseless. It’s all rubbish. No complaint had ever come to the BCCI from either the ICC or Sri Lanka Cricket. The BCCI had never received any complaint on this matter. Actually, the lady is Raina’s agent,” said the BCCI media committee chairman, Mr Rajiv Shukla.
The Sri Lankan board also denied giving any such report to the ICC.
“This is news to me. There is no truth in this report,” the Sri Lanka Cricket secretary, Mr Nishantha Ranatunga, said.
The 23-year-old Raina is not suspected of any wrongdoing, but the ICC decided to investigate the matter after the BCCI secretary, Mr N. Srinivasan, reportedly was alleged to have got the Sri Lankans to withdraw the report instead of acting on it.
Raina is part of the Chennai Super Kings IPL team owned by Indian Cements, of which Mr Srinivasan is vice-chairman and managing director.