Deepak Agarwal, among the team owners at the 2018 T10 Cricket League, has been banned from the sport for two years by the International Cricket Council.
Agarwal was part-owner of the Sindhis franchise, whose squad included England World Cup winner Jofra Archer along with compatriots Dawid Malan and Joe Clarke.
The ban, six months of which are suspended, comes after Agarwal accepted one charge of breaching the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code.
Last year, Agarwal was all over the news after Bangladesh star Shakib Al Hasan was banned for two years by the ICC over corruption charges. He had approached Shakib a number of times but the allrounder did not report those approaches to the concerned authorities. According to the ICC, Deepak Agarwal wanted to obtain inside information from Shakib to use for betting purposes.
Agarwal was charged under article 2.4.7, which relates to: “Obstructing or delaying an investigation, including concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information that may be relevant to that investigation and/or that may be evidence of or may lead to the discovery of evidence of corrupt conduct under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.”
ICC general manager for integrity Alex Marshall stated: “There were many examples of Mr. Agarwal obstructing and delaying our investigations and it was not just a one-off occurrence.”
“However, he made a prompt admission of his breach of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code and continues to provide substantial assistance to the ACU concerning several investigations involving other participants. This cooperation is reflected in his sanction.”
Sindhis ended up at the bottom of the Super League at the 2018 staging of the tournament in the United Arab Emirates after winning just one of their six games.
