ISLAMABAD – Sri Lanka “sold” the 2011 World Cup final to India, thecountry’s former sports minister said on Thursday, reviving one ofcricket’s most explosive match-fixing controversies.
Mahindananda Aluthgamage, who was sports minister at the time, is thesecond senior figure to allege the final was fixed, after 1996 WorldCup-winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga.
“I tell you today that we sold the 2011 World Cup finals,” Aluthgamage toldSirasa TV. “Even when I was sports minister I believed this.”
Aluthgamage, sports minister from 2010 to 2015 and now state minister forrenewable energy and power, said he “did not want to disclose” the plot atthe time.
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“In 2011, we were to win, but we sold the match. I feel I can talk about itnow. I am not connecting players, but some sections were involved,” he said.
Former Sri Lankan cricketers Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene tookto Twitter, to respond to the shocking claims made by the ex-sportsminister.
