The story goes that when the Australian Cricket Board knocked back Kerry Packer in 1976, Packer told them: “there’s a little bit of the whore in all of us, gentlemen, so name your price”. That line came to mind early on in al-Jazeera’s new documentary, Cricket’s Match-Fixers, when its undercover journalist, David Harrison, meets the alleged match‑fixer, Aneel Munawar, for the first time. Harrison asks Munawar if he ever has problems arranging fixes. “Actually,” Munawar tells him, “if you have the money, you will do anything.” Harrison opens up a suitcase full of cash and says: “I need to know from you what you are going to do to get that money, to earn it.”
It turns out that what Munawar is willing to do to get Harrison’s money is tell him stories about how he has fixed two Tests. He says he has arranged to have three English players score a certain number of runs in a 10-over section of the Test between England and India at Chennai in 2016, and two Australian players to do a similar thing in Australia’s Test against India at Ranchi in 2017. According to the documentary, Munawar told Harrison’s middle-man in advance roughly how many runs would be scored in those two passages of play, and his predictions were right both times.
Related: ICC intends to interview the players allegedly involved in spot-fixing
Related: Fixing allegations are 'unsubstantiated', says Australia captain Tim Paine
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