New Delhi:Indian batsman Suresh Raina has rubbished allegations made by former cricket administrator Lalit Modi that the left-hand bat was involved in betting in Indian Premier League (IPL) matches.
He said he was mulling legal action against the former IPL chairman for making “false” allegations.
Modi alleged on Saturday that Indian cricketers Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and West Indian Dwayne Bravo had taken bribes from a bookie who was also a builder. The three are all members of IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings.
Modi claimed through a series of tweets on Saturday that real estate tycoon Baba Diwan of HDIL.co had given apartments to the players in addition to money.
“In the wake of recent media reports about me, I would like to make my fans around the world aware and clear the air that I have always played the game in right spirit and with utmost integrity,” Raina said in a statement.
I have never been involved in any wrong doing and all allegations against me are false. Playing cricket is my passion for whichever team I have represented. I’m also figuring out my legal rights to take the right steps ahead in this matter.”
Modi also said when he was the IPL chief he “had banned him (Baba) from bidding for any IPL team”.
Modi claimed that Diwan was a good friend of Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra, who have been implicated in the 2013 IPL betting and match fixing case by the Supreme Court.
He also posted a letter which he claimed he wrote to International Cricket Council CEO Dave Richardson in June 2013, passing on all the information and urging him to act upon it.
The ICC on Sunday acknowledged having received Modi’s confidential e-mail and sharing it with the Indian cricket board’s anti-corruption unit.
ICC said the information was also provided to its Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) and it dealt with it in accordance with its procedures.
None of the three cricketers named by Modi have so far been interrogated or spoken to by either the BCCI or the ICC. The BCCI, infact, has given a “clean chit’ to the three players.