With a Harsha Bhogle mimic & Rs 400 a day, Gujarat villagers con Russian betters with fake IPL

Work experience counts in every job, even when you are pulling a con, especially when you are pulling a con.

Shoeb and Asif Mohammed, residents of Molipur village in Gujarat's Mehsana district, worked in a pub in Russia and learnt of Russians’ love for betting.

Asif introduced Russian punters in the pub to the nuances of cricket, reported The Times of India.


Shoeb returned to India, armed with this work experience. He and Asif Mohammed then put together a successful con that has social media agog and in serious discussion. They brought together a bunch of farm labourers and unemployed men and reproduced a couple of IPL matches in Gujarat, starting three weeks after IPL ended in May.



Russian punters bet on the fake matches, and the first instalment of Rs 3 lakh arrived just before the con got busted.

Experts discussing the con matches, a video of which has been put up by the BBC, pointed to the things that helped the scamsters.

Jarrod Kimber, co-founder of 99.94 DM, which specialises in podcasts on cricket, tweeted about the scam: “They nailed the camera angle though. It may be the only detail they got right. But it’s an important one.

This is actually how cricket looks to non-cricket people. It’s the most accurate portrayal of the game since Aaron Sorkin on Sportsnight.”

Jorgan Elgott, journalist with BBC Sports tweeted: “Unbelievable story from India today. A group of farmers and unemployed youngsters have been running a fake Indian Premier League, and conning Russian punters into betting on it.”

The players were hired for Rs 400 per day, the cricket ground a farmland.

The group of 21 people pretended to be pro cricketers by wearing jerseys of the Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans. They umpired using walkie-talkies in front of 5 HD cameras. Crowd noise was added to make the ambience right. A commentator from Meerut who could mimick Harsha Bhogle added to the fake tournament, inducing Russian gamblers to bet their roubles on Telegram channels, reported TOI.

“The umpire appears to be more enthusiastic than the players, waving his hands vigorously, signalling wides and no balls. In keeping with the rather amiable mood of the game, a bowler doesn’t seem to be interested in running out a batsman who’s stranded yards away from the crease,” said the BBC on the video of the fake match.

The police have so far arrested four people and are investigating the hawala channel that was used to keep the scam alive.