Chief of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) Alex Marshall believes that T20 leagues have given power to match-fixers.

As reported on The Hindu, Marshall revealed his concerns over all the new T20 competitions, insinuating that it gives fixers the perfect opportunity to continue to corrupt the game.

‘The corrupters love the explosion of T20 tournaments. These have given them a host of new opportunities. It’s great to have these events, great way to develop cricket in new regions, but they are also new opportunities for the corrupters,’ said Marshall.

‘They can particularly like the T20s and, if they can, they will try and get into the franchises; they will try and get financial backing; they will try and gain influence over the T20 league. We have had several jobs we have dealt with related to T20 leagues. And if they can’t get into a T20 league, how about designing their own corrupt tournament.

‘Over the last couple of years, a host of private T20 leagues — and at times even shorter formats — have mushroomed across the globe, where corruption is rampant. Dave Richardson, the ICC chief executive, agreed it was time the administrators relooked at the criteria for officially recognising such events,’ he added.

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