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CBI homes in on Ajay Sharma

The CBI, now probing the match-fixing scandal, has been zeroing in on former India player Ajay Sharma, now in England playing for the Padiham Cricket Club.

The agency has acquired voluminous telephone records, of land lines and various cellphones used by Sharma. Sources within the CBI indicate that the agency sleuths are now examining these documents, and even though it is early days yet, they believe that they have sufficient information to proceed against Sharma on various counts.

'We are sure that Sharma is an important link, and we will shortly be questioning him,' a CBI official confirmed, indicating that the agency has approached the sercretary of the Padhiham Cricket Club to find out whether Sharma can be released before September, when his contract supposedly ends.

Meanwhile, as the net tightens around Sharma, increasing numbers of his acquaintances among the bookie community have begun vanishing from their regular haunts. The latest in the list is Ratan Mehta, hotelier and alleged bookmaker.

Mehta, who owns the Mini Mahal restaurant in Vasant Vihar, and whose name regularly turns up in the registers of those hotels where the Indian and international teams stay while playing within the country, has vanished from his usual haunts, and CBI sources say they have intensified efforts to trace him.

Meanwhile, the next big bombshell to burst could well centre around domestic cricket. If you go to a stadium featuring domestic matches, you will be hard-pressed to find a hundred spectators. However, for the satta operators and their faithful punters, domestic cricket spells big money, with millions changing hands on the outcome of games no cricket follower is even remotely interested in.

The result? Some surprising outcomes, which in the harsh light of today, cause eyebrows to lift in suspicion.

From the dozens of such instances on file, we present one. A Delhi versus Haryana zonal one dayer, played at the Vaish College Grounds, Rohtak, on October 21, 1998. Delhi, with a strong all round team, was tipped to make short work of Haryana, despite the presence of national star Ajay Jadeja as captain of the latter side. For the punters, thus, Delhi was a safe bet.

And what happens? Haryana, winning the toss, opts for first strike. And finds itself bundled out, in 49.2 overs, for a measly 152 runs.

In reply, Delhi coast along, on the back of a calm, composed opening stand of 91 between Ashu Dani and Vijay Dahiya. Then there is an unaccountable slump, and at the end of 40 overs, the Delhi score is 122/5. After 45 overs, it is 136/5. The chasing side requires a further 17 runs, in the last five overs, with five wickets in hand, to pull off a comfortable win.

Incredibly, the game ends in a tie, with Delhi scoring 16 runs off the last 30 deliveries to finish up on 152 for five in the allotted 50 overs. At the crease as the curtain comes down, are Nikhil Chopra, batting 3 off seven deliveries, and Ajay Sharma, who came in at the fall of the second wicket, and remained unbeaten on 29, off 49 deliveries.

'Forget the big leagues,' one cricket administrator tells us. 'It is in domestic cricket that the action is really happening.'