Harin comments on Mahindananda’s match-fixing allegations

The allegations levelled by former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage on the purported ‘match-fixing’ at the 2011 World Cup final has sparked controversy, prompting the Sports Ministry to call for an immediate probe on the matter.
 
Meanwhile, another former Minister of Sports Harin Fernando, taking to his official Twitter account on Friday (19), said that Aluthgamage, should lodge a complaint with the International Cricket Council (ICC) with evident as he did when he was serving as the subject minister “on a different fixing approach”.
 
He also noted that Aluthgamage should refrain from making “unsubstantiated wild allegations”.
 
Mahindananda recently made a controversial statement, claiming that he does not accept Sri Lanka’s defeat in the 2011 World Cup (final) as a defeat. “According to the information I have received I believe that it was match-fixing,” he had said further, speaking on his startling revelation.
 
On April 2, 2011, India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets to win the ICC World Cup final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. During a televised interview recently, Aluthgamage claimed that the final was fixed. However, he said he was ready to take full responsibility for his comments.
 
Aluthgamage had stated that the Selection Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) had picked the squad for the World Cup final against India and that the team was changed “in the last moment”.
 
“Four players were changed,” he said. In addition to that two players were brought down from Sri Lanka and that neither the cricket board’s nor the Sports Ministry’s approval had been obtained for it. “That is completely wrong.”
 
Former Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardena tweeted a response to news reports on the revelation. He asked for the names and pieces of evidence, involved in the matter. 
 
Kumar Sangakkara, who was the Sri Lankan skipper in that game, has also opened up on the issue. He said that the former minister needs to take the evidence to the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Former Sports Minister Mahindananda rather than making unsubstantiated wild allegations he should complain to ICC with evidence as I did when I was the Sports Minister on a different fixing approach.

— Harin Fernando (@fernandoharin) June 19, 2020