Marlon Samuels Found to have been associated with a Book Maker

West Indian all-rounder Marlon Samuels has been accused of having contact with a bookie during the ODI series between India and West Indies recently. Nagpur police recorded some telephone conversation involved Samuels and Mukesh Kochar, a bookmaker.

Aljazeera.net reported:

Kumar alleged Samuels had five conversations with Mukesh Kochar, the bookmaker identified in the calls, however there was no evidence that any money had changed hands.

West Indian captain Brian Lara won the toss in the January 21 match and sent the home side in to bat in what appeared to be excellent batting conditions, before India amassed 338 for 3 from their 50 overs with off-spinner Samuels conceding 53 runs without taking a wicket from his ten overs.

In reply, the West Indies managed 324 for 8 with opener Shivnarine Chanderpaul smashing an unbeaten 149 and Samuels contributing 40 runs from 60 deliveries as the Caribbean side lost by 14 runs.

"We have recorded information that Samuels leaked important team information to Kochar from his hotel room in five telephone calls on January 20 and 21," Kumar told reporters on Wednesday.

"Kochar is a known associate of underworld figure Dawood Ibrahim."

Police has requested both BCCI and ICC to go through the controversy. BCCI said that ICC will investigate the matter. The star cricketer of West Indies team has rejected such allegation and said that the West Indies Cricketers’ association will go through the matter if they think it is needed.

This is a bad news for the entire cricket world as the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 is just a month away and no true cricket lover wants to have any impact of bookies in the upcoming World Cup Cricket. The tournament will be started from the 11^th March.