WATCH: The Niall Smith over that has put the CPL game under fixing cloud
Originally posted in August, the sequence of events that led to speculation among fans that a Caribbean Premier League game from the 2021 season is shocking.
Read this before you delve into the Niall Smith over that is under a fixing cloud: Why are fans bothered by this CPL game from 2021? Why are fans bothered by this CPL game from 2021?
An over from Guyana Amazon Warriors medium-fast bowler Niall Smith fuelled the fire as far as speculations and claims of match-fixing regarding a (August 29) CPL 2021 game against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
As the betting odds experienced a shocking change from the start of this over and then Smith produced a strange set of balls, the question marks are being raised over potentially deliberate faulty play in the game.
The over was the 15th of the Patriots’ run-chase where they had their eyes set on a further 67 runs off 36 balls with seven wickets still intact.
Also Read: Fans Speculate CPL 2021 Game Being Fixed After Match Footage, Untoward Change Of Betting Odds
An over from Niall Smith in CPL 2021 is under the scanner for faulty play.
Why Niall Smith’s over raised eyebrows and led to fixing claims?
The betting odds were heavily stacked against the Patriots before the start of Niall Smith’s over but they transformed shockingly in favour of the visitors’ win despite no change in the game’s status whatsoever.
If this was not enough, those who were already suspicious of the huge change on a betting forum, then also saw Smith bowl in complete contrast to the field setting.
Initially, the bowler aborted his run-up for no obvious reason, as if a signal is being sent to someone, and then bowled multiple wides and balls down the leg-side despite the field being set to bowl outside off-stump.
In a different clip, one could see that Warriors captain Nicholas Pooran had discussed the field positions with experienced Pakistani batsmen Shoaib Malik and the plan, it seemed, was to bowl predominantly on the off-side.
But what followed was some bizarre bowling on Niall Smith’s part, as his first ball was well down the leg-side and ended as a wide. The next ball also would’ve been a massive wide if not for the timely pull stroke from Sherfane Rutherford.
At this point, both Malik and Pooran got around the bowler to perhaps remind him what the plan and the field is set for. But again, Smith bowled a slower ball down the leg for a wide.
The following delivery was aimed for the leg-side too, only that it was not a wide and got fended off for a single.
With right-hander Dwayne Bravo on strike now, Smith bowled one wider of the out-stump, which would also have resulted in an extra if not for the batter’s wild slog being mistimed towards long-on for a single.
Once Rutherford got back on strike, the pacer bowled another wide down leg in a seemingly endless procession of questionable wides.
The next three balls weren’t wides but one could see that Niall Smith was still aiming for Rutherford’s pads as opposed to his outside edge.