One more person allegedly involved in betting activities for the ongoing IPL matches was arrested by police from Nagpada in south Mumbai taking to seven the total number of bookies held in the last three days, says a report in The Tribune.
According to the report, the accused identified as Firoz Ansari was nabbed last night and produced today before a local court, which remanded him in police custody till May 25. On Thursday, police had held six bookies, including two top bookies-- Sonu Malad alias Batiya and Deven Kothari alias Bhaiji, on charges of betting.
Ansari was basically a mediator between those who wanted to bet and the six bookies who received betting, police said. "The bookies had clients from abroad. Ansari acted as a mediator between bookies and the foreign clients," a police officer said.Police said one of the arrested bookies has claimed he had paid Rs ten crore to a Sri Lankan cricket player for fixing a match about six years ago. "Sonu and Deven are big catch for us. One of the two had told us that they had paid Rs 10 crore to a Sri Lankan player about six years ago to fix a match," the officer said.Meaanwhile The Hindu writes that Rahul Dravid and his men return to their happy hunting ground, the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, with a tinge of sadness. With their hopes of making the playoffs dashed following a defeat to Deccan Chargers on Friday night, Rajasthan Royals will try to finish on a high by scoring over Mumbai Indians on Sunday.
“Mumbai arrived here looking to win on Sunday to stay among the top four teams. As it turned out, Kings XI Punjab's loss to Delhi Daredevils on Saturday has confirmed Mumbai's place in the playoffs. Irrespective of the outcome on Sunday, Royals has enough reasons to hold its head high. The way Dravid has led the team of not-so-accomplished cricketers and kept it in the hunt until the last week of the league has been the biggest positive,” says The Hindu report.
Meanwhile Lasith Malinga writes in TOI that everyone in the Mumbai camp is looking forward to Sunday’s game. “It’s a big night for us and we are really focused on the task ahead of us which is to secure qualification. We should have qualified much earlier. We have ourselves to blame but hope to finish the job tonight. We are the masters of our own destiny. There are a few outcomes possible with all the games being played this weekend, but the bottom-line is that if we beat Rajasthan we are going through. Rajasthan will no doubt want to sign off with a win after Hyderabad beat them on Friday. They have played some excellent cricket and represent a serious challenge to us.”
