Dream11 Face Police Probe Over Links to 'Fake' Sri Lankan T20 League

Dream11, the well-known fantasy sports platform and IPL sponsor, has been dragged into an extraordinary case by the Indian cricket board's anti-corruption unit (ACU), who have asked police to explore any links to a 'fake' T20 league.

The ACU is investigating the Uva T20 Premier League, which was billed as being held in Sri Lanka, but was actually played at a local Sawara village club ground, close to Mohali.

The action was streamed live on FanCode, which police have also been asked to look at. Both FanCode and Dream11 are part of Dream Sports.

The Indian Express got access to an ACU note to the Mohali police which said: "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.

"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's response has been two-fold. Firstly, a spokesperson for the company was quoted as saying FanCode were also an "aggrieved party", adding: "FanCode follows a strict process for shortlisting and screening potential league partnerships for live streaming of matches. Before streaming any tournament/ league on our platform, we diligently check if the tournament is approved by a recognised sports authority/ association."

The sports app also filed a complaint with the Mumbai police on 6 July, alleging that documents provided about the tournament had been forged, including emails and letters from the Uva Province Cricket Association and Sri Lanka Cricket.

FanCode further stated. "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."

Mohali resident Ravinder Dandiwal, previously named as a global leader in tennis match-fixing by the Australian police, has been questioned about his alleged role in the scheme. The tournament was advertised as running from 9 June-July 15 with four "iconic international cricketers" starring.

The Strokers Cricket Association, along with all players, officials, and commentators who took part are also under fire - the ACU report believes they must have been aware of the plot to mislead fans to some degree.

This case could come as another blow to cricket's integrity, just a month after illegal bookie Sanjeev Chawla stated that "no cricket match is fairly played" when answering questions about match-fixing in the sport.