Lights, camera, action – this version of the ‘Indian Premier League’ (IPL) had every recipe expected from the sporting spectacle sans the usual pomp and show, star players, or franchises such as Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Titans, Royal Challengers Bangalore, etc.
The enactment was pulled off with such finesse that it convinced some Russians to bet on the matches, only to find it later that they were putting their money on something that doesn’t even exist.
Some labourers and unemployed youth from Molipur village in Gujarat set up an entire fake IPL tournament and live-streamed it on YouTube for two weeks. That’s how they managed to almost dupe some Russian gamblers of thousands of pounds.
They even set up a Telegram channel dedicated to the games. That’s where they took bets from Russian gamblers located in Tver, Voronezh, and Moscow.
Interestingly, this version of the ‘IPL’ tournament was being played after the actual IPL’s 2022 season closed out in late May.
As per a news report in Dainik Bhaskar, each ‘player’ was paid as low as Rs 400 to pose as star players from Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, and Gujarat Titans.
Real or Fake, Who Could Tell
This may seem like something straight out of Netflix’s popular show ‘Money Heist’ as the conmen involved paid attention to every minute detail to make it look more realistic – HD cameras and halogen lights were placed around the field, and sound effects were added using big speakers that mimicked the noise from a real crowd.
Not just that, even the person tasked with commentary could mimic Harsha Bhogle.
“Can't stop laughing. Must hear this "commentator",” tweeted Bhogle after the news of this ‘IPL’ spread rapidly on the micro-blogging platform Twitter.
Anand Mahindra, the chairperson of the Mahindra Group, tweeted: "Just incredible. And if they had called it the ‘Metaverse IPL’ they could have gotten a billion-dollar valuation!"
In one of the matches, players could be seen swapping jerseys belonging to the Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, and Gujarat Titans,
Umpires could be seen walking on the ground with walkie-talkies.
Notably, the walkie-talkies were being used to get ‘instructions’ from the masterminds behind the tournament. The instructions were based on live bets they received from the Russians.
Based on signals from the umpires, the batting side or the bowling side would play.
How The Scam Was Busted?
It was all going well, the bets were coming in, the tournament was proceeding well, and with every ball or wicket, some people were making a lot of quick money.
But this ‘IPL’ tournament came to a sudden end during the “quarter-finals,” when the police caught the con men taking delivery of Rs 3 lakh from Russian bettors.
According to a news report in The Times of India, the main culprit Shoeb Davda had spent eight months in Russian pubs that were famous for taking bets. He had met Asif Mohammed who introduced the Russian punters in the pub to the nuances of cricket.
“Shoeb would take live bets over the Telegram channel. He would instruct Kolu, the umpire, over a walkie-talkie to signal fours and sixes. Kolu communicated the same to the batsman and the bowler. Acting on the instructions, the bowler would deliver a slow ball, enabling the batsman to hit it for a four or a six,” The newspaper quoted a police official as saying.
