Jayawardene ridicules former Sri Lanka Sports Minister's claim that 2011 World Cup final was sold

Colombo, June 18: Mahela Jayawardene has ridiculed Sri Lanka's former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage's claim that his country "sold" the 2011 World Cup final to India and the former captain also demanded evidence for it.

After being set a target of 275, India claimed the trophy thanks to the brilliance of Gautam Gambhir (97) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (91).

In an interview with local TV channel 'Sirasa', Aluthgamage said the final was fixed.

"Today I am telling you that we sold the 2011 world cup, I said this when I was the sports minister," said Aluthgamage, who was the sports minister at the time.

"As a country I do not want to announce this. I can't exactly remember if it was 2011 or 2012. But we were to win that game," added the politician.

"I am telling you with responsibility I felt that the match was fixed. I can debate this, I know people were concerned about this."

In response to the former Sports Minister's claim, former captain Jayawardene, who scored a hundred in that game, ridiculed it via social media.

Is the elections around the corner 🤔Looks like the circus has started 🤡 names and evidence? #SLpolitics #ICC https://t.co/bA4FxdqXhu

— Mahela Jayawardena (@MahelaJay) June 18, 2020

"Is the elections around the corner...like the circus has started...names and evidence?" he asked in a tweet.

Aluthgamage said that in his opinion no players were involved in fixing the result, "but certain parties were involved."

This is not the first time Aluthgamage has made these allegations. He has hinted that the game had been fixed earlier as well. Former World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga had also called for a probe on alleged match-fixing in the 2011 World Cup final.

(With PTI inputs)