Match-Fixing Allegations Resurface in IPL with Tehelka Sting
The Indian Premier League, never far from the shadow of scandal, has been dragged back into the conversation around corruption after an undercover investigation by Tehelka alleged a fresh network of fixing and inside information stretching from domestic cricket to the game’s biggest franchise league.
At the centre of the report is former Ranji player Rachit Bhatia, who is accused of boasting about leaking Chennai Super Kings’ playing XIs during the 2025 IPL season and discussing spot-fixing and selection bribery across multiple competitions.
The allegations are explosive. They are also, at this stage, unverified.
Tehelka’s sting and the IPL 2025 angle
Tehelka’s Special Investigation Team says it ran the sting for months, from December 2025 to August 2026, with an undercover reporter posing as a bookmaker. Across that period, the report claims, Bhatia repeatedly offered what he described as “inside information” and detailed how he could manipulate aspects of the game and its ecosystem.
The most eye-catching claim concerns IPL 2025 and Chennai Super Kings.
According to the report, Bhatia told the undercover reporter he had passed on CSK’s playing XI to London-based bookmakers during that season, allegedly communicating via Snapchat. He is reported to have said he received Rs 60 lakh per match for this service over five games, a total of Rs 3 crore.
The report states that Bhatia claimed the information came from a contact inside the CSK squad. Tehelka does not name that player. No court, no governing body, and no law-enforcement agency has corroborated the allegation.
As the story spread, some outlets drew in the name of CSK and Central Delhi Kings batter Vansh Bedi, but only in the narrow context of previous reporting that he had informed the sport’s anti-corruption unit of an approach from a bookie, as carried by the Times of India. Bedi has since issued a statement calling any broader links to him “highly defamatory” and rejecting the allegations outright.
The sting goes further. Tehelka reports that Bhatia claimed he could again provide access to CSK’s playing XI for the 2026 IPL season, contingent on a player he knew being picked at the auction, and that he planned to replicate the arrangement in the Delhi Premier League.
DPL under the scanner
From the IPL, the narrative in the report moves into the domestic game, zeroing in on the Delhi Premier League and a concept it labels “line-up leaks” — the early sharing of a team’s playing XI with bookmakers before the official announcement at the toss.
According to Tehelka, Bhatia offered to supply such information for Central Delhi Kings’ matches in the 2026 DPL season. The initial price, the report says, was Rs 40 lakh per match, before negotiations drove it lower.
The report claims Bhatia provided advance XIs ahead of two Central Delhi Kings fixtures that did not match the final teams announced at the toss, something he is said to have blamed on late changes. The pattern allegedly shifted before a third game, against North Delhi Strikers on August 3, 2026, when the line-up he supplied reportedly matched the official playing XI. Payment for that, Tehelka says, settled at Rs 3 lakh.
The story does not stop at team sheets. The report alleges that Bhatia also discussed the possibility of spot-fixing in future Central Delhi Kings matches. One example quoted is an attempt to arrange a run-out. Separately, he is reported to have claimed he had previously engaged in spot-fixing himself.
Tehelka’s report states that, according to Bhatia, he bowled two deliberate wides during the 2018-19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in return for money from bookmakers. It also notes that he played his domestic cricket for Nagaland.
Selection bribery claims
Beyond match situations and team sheets, the investigation moves into the murkier area of selection.
The report alleges that Bhatia claimed he paid a bribe to secure his own Ranji Trophy selection for Nagaland in the 2018-19 season. It then broadens out, quoting him in his stated role as a school-level selector and coach in Delhi, describing a system in which, for a price, players across various age groups could buy their way into school teams.
None of these claims has been independently verified. No authority has yet tested them under cross-examination or formal inquiry.
DDCA urges caution, BCCI silent so far
The Delhi and District Cricket Association, which runs the DPL, has moved quickly to distance itself from the claims and to cool the temperature around the story.
In a statement responding to the report, the DDCA stressed that the allegations remain unproven.
“DDCA would like to clarify that the allegations referred to in these reports are unverified and have not been established by any competent authority,” the association said. “The association believes it would be inappropriate to draw conclusions about any individual, player or franchise based solely on such allegations.”
The BCCI, which still bears the scars of previous fixing scandals, has not yet issued any public comment.
So, for now, the situation sits in a familiar limbo. A detailed media sting, a cast of named and unnamed figures, big money, big claims, and a sport that has repeatedly promised it has learned its lessons.
The next move belongs to the authorities.
