CSK XI Leaks and DPL Fixing: Allegations Rock Indian Cricket
The Indian Premier League has been here before. Whispers of fixing, talk of bookies, the uneasy feeling that something far bigger than bat and ball might be at play. Now, those shadows have lengthened again.
A new undercover investigation by Tehelka has alleged a web of corruption stretching from Delhi’s domestic circuit to the IPL, with former Ranji player Rachit Bhatia at its centre.
The Sting: Months Undercover
Tehelka’s Special Investigation Team says it ran a months-long sting operation, with a reporter posing as a bookmaker from December 2025 to August 2026. Across that period, the reporter allegedly held multiple conversations with Bhatia, who is claimed to have opened the door to a murky world of inside information, spot-fixing and selection bribes.
The magazine’s report says Bhatia spoke of leaking playing XIs, arranging specific on-field events, and even buying his way into domestic cricket.
All of it, for now, sits in the realm of allegation. No court, no board, no law-enforcement agency has established these claims. But the detail is stark enough to jolt Indian cricket’s establishment.
IPL 2025, CSK and the Price of a Playing XI
At the heart of the report lies one of the IPL’s biggest brands: Chennai Super Kings.
According to Tehelka, Bhatia told the undercover reporter he had passed on CSK’s playing XI during the 2025 IPL season to London-based bookmakers. The report says he claimed to have used Snapchat to share the information.
The numbers are eye-catching. As per the report, Bhatia said he received Rs 60 lakh per match for these XI leaks over five games, a total of Rs 3 crore. The information, he allegedly claimed, came from a contact inside the CSK squad.
Tehelka does not name that player. That omission has not stopped speculation elsewhere.
Some subsequent coverage has mentioned CSK and Central Delhi Kings batter Vansh Bedi, but only in the limited context of him reportedly informing the sport’s anti-corruption unit about a bookie’s approach, as carried by the Times of India. Bedi has since released a statement calling any attempt to link him to the alleged corruption “highly defamatory” and has flatly rejected the allegations.
The Tehelka report goes further. It claims Bhatia said he could again provide CSK’s playing XI for the 2026 IPL season, provided a player he knew was picked in the auction, and that he wanted to mirror this model in the Delhi Premier League.
The picture painted is not of one rogue conversation, but of a business plan.
“Line-Up Leaks” and the DPL
The focus then shifts to Delhi’s domestic T20 competition, the DPL, and to a phrase that sends a chill through any professional sport: “line-up leaks.”
Tehelka describes this as the early sharing of a team’s playing XI with bookmakers before its official announcement at the toss.
In the report, Bhatia is said to have offered such information for Central Delhi Kings matches in the 2026 DPL season. He allegedly quoted Rs 40 lakh per match at first, before the figure was negotiated down.
The magazine claims that before two Central Delhi Kings fixtures, Bhatia provided XIs that did not match the official line-ups, which he reportedly blamed on late changes. But ahead of a third game, against North Delhi Strikers on August 3, 2026, the report says the XI he supplied matched the one eventually announced.
Payment for that, Tehelka claims, was settled at Rs 3 lakh.
The allegations don’t stop at line-ups. The report says Bhatia discussed the possibility of spot-fixing in future Central Delhi Kings matches, including what he is quoted as describing as an attempt to engineer a run-out. He is also alleged to have claimed previous involvement in spot-fixing himself.
According to the investigation, Bhatia said he bowled two deliberate wides in the 2018-19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in return for money from bookmakers. The report notes that he played his domestic cricket for Nagaland.
Bribes, Selection and a Deeper Rot
Tehelka’s story pushes beyond match days and into the selection room.
Separately, 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 doesn’t stop at his playing career. In his role as a school-level selector and coach in Delhi, Bhatia is alleged to have suggested that places in school teams across age groups could be bought. The implication is stark: a talent pipeline skewed not by performance, but by payment.
None of these claims have been independently verified. But if proven, they would point to a corrosion far deeper than a few bent overs in a domestic T20.
DDCA Responds, BCCI Silent So Far
With Delhi’s cricket scene dragged into the spotlight, the Delhi and District Cricket Association has moved to distance itself from any rush to judgement.
In a formal statement, the DDCA urged restraint.
“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,” it added.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has, at the time of writing, not issued any public response.
For now, Tehelka’s investigation stands alone: a single media report, rich in claimed detail but yet to be tested in any formal forum. Whether it sparks full-scale inquiries from the BCCI, the ICC, or law enforcement will shape not just reputations, but trust in the competitions that sit at the heart of Indian cricket’s booming economy.
If even a fraction of these claims is eventually proven, the question will not just be who was involved—but how deep the game is willing to dig to clean itself up.
