Dream 11 Link to Fake Uva T20 League? BCCI Asks Mohali Police to Investigate: Report

One of the sponsors of the Indian Premier League, fantasy cricket site Dream 11 has come under the scanner of BCCI's anti-corruption unit for probable involvement in the fake Uva Premier League T20, according to a report in The Indian Express.

The tournament, advertised as a Sri Lankan T20 League, was found to have been hosted on the outskirts of Mohali with local Punjab players with the tournament having links to bookmakers. Eight bookies were booked by Mohali police with two of them arrested as well.

"There is also chance that Dream11 may be linked. We think the kits used might have been from a previous Dream11 tournament. All of the kits had “Dream11” on the back – there is clearly a chance that these could have been forged, but two sides had tape covering up the Dream11 sign. This is strange: if someone was forging it and didn’t want two sides to have it displayed then arguably, they wouldn’t print in the first place," ACU said in a communication to Mohali police, according to the newspaper.

"With the regard to FanCode, we would also question their involvement as it should not be easy to persuade them to stream a tournament like this."

Fancode, meanwhile, said in a statement that they are the 'aggrieved party'.

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"FanCode has filed a formal complaint with the Mumbai Police on July 6th, 2020. We are an aggrieved party in this whole incident of Uva Premier League T20, as it has transpired that the documents submitted by the organisers during our due diligence process were forged/ fabricated. The organisers had provided us with a Letter of Sanction from Uva Province Cricket Association along with an email from the official email id of SLC (Sri Lanka Cricket) that provided confirmation of the tournament," Indian Express reported as Fancode's statement.

"After Day 1 of the tournament, where FanCode streamed two matches, the legal team of SLC reached out to us and informed us that the matches are not approved by them. We immediately stopped streaming these matches on our platform. We are closely working with the Anti-Corruption Unit of SLC and have provided all the documents/ evidence and details available with us, which may be useful for the investigation. We will be more than happy to provide information/ evidence/ documents to any and all investigating agencies working on the matter."

The tournament consisting of four teams - Wellawaya Vipers, Monaragala Hornets, Badulla Sea Eagles and Mahiyanganaya Unilions - was said to involve former cricketers like TM Dilshan, Farveez Maharoof, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Tushara. However, Maharoof clarified on Twitter than he had no part to play in it.

Sri Lanka Cricket too had not authorized the league, with CEO Ashley De Silva directing the Anti-corruption officer to look into the matter. As things turned out, the games were conducted in Mohali with online streaming on websites largely through long shots.

The Uva Province Cricket Association too denied any involvement.