CRICKET: SPOT-FIXING

Which Congress leader is helping a suspected

CRICKET BOOKIE?

Ajay Sharma

Who is Dheeraj Dixit? How did he become such a key figure in covering matches played by the Indian cricket team that he toured the world along with the Indian squad and moved freely in and out of the Indian cricket team's dressing room? If he is a hotshot sports photographer, how come no one knows which newspaper or magazine he works for? The Indian cricket administration and government agencies are scrambling to find these answers after shamed Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Asif’s ex-girlfriend Veena Malik claimed on television channels that Dixit was the man who was in touch with Asif to work out what has now come to be known as ‘spot fixing’.

‘Spot fixing’ for a bowler would mean bowling either a no ball or a wide ball at such a crucial juncture of the match that this particular delivery changes the course of the match. Bookies around the world find ‘spot fixing’ easier to handle than match fixing as the latter requires a large number of players acting in tandem while in spot fixing, bribing only a couple of key bowlers or batsmen can bring the desired results.

“I hardly paid any remuneration to Dixit”

Ashok Kushwaha, Editor, Just Sports

Veena Malik claims that she has proof of Asif's contact with Dixit and she can present these proof as and when demanded by investigators. The spotlight in India has, therefore, turned to Dixit, who is now being called the India connection by foreign press in its reports on the ugly bribery row involving three Pakistani players.

Dixit, it turns out, works for a paper that no one in the top echelons of Indian cricket has heard of. Enquiries reveal that even journalists of Chhattisgarh have not heard of the paper called Just Sports that comes out from the town of Bhilai.

The question being raised now is how did an unknown photographer of an obscure publication become such an important part of the media squad that he was travelling with the team across the world for the last three years.

Realpolitik was able to trace Ashok Kushwaha, the owner-cum-editor of the magazine Just Sports, at his residence at Bhilai in Chhattisgarh. Kushwaha said he had met Dheeraj Dixit at a match and accepted his request for an official association with his publication as Dheeraj did not want any salary or retainership. “We are a small publication and do not have large income. So, when Dixit offered to supply us sports photographs without charging any money, I naturally grabbed the offer. He started sending us photographs that we published but we hardly paid him any money, except for some token amount” Mr Kushwaha said. He also revealed that due to financial difficulties he has now suspended publication of Just Sports since early this year. Dheeraj is reported to have houses in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and London. He also reportedly loves fast cars.

Dixit is reportedly close to a Congress leader who is a key functionary of the BCCI. It is with the help of this Congress leader that Dixit got the media pass to accompany the Indian squad. There is need to uncover the relationship between this Congress leader and the photographer. It is also imprtant to find out if Dixit is actually a photographer or has been inducted into the media squad by the Congress leader with an ulterior motive. Watch this space to get the answers to these questions.