Allegations of Corruption in IPL 2025 and Delhi Premier League

The Indian Premier League has been dragged back into the shadows, this time by an undercover investigation that alleges a web of corruption stretching from Delhi’s domestic scene to the glamour of IPL 2025.

At the centre of the storm: former Ranji player Rachit Bhatia.

Tehelka’s Special Investigation Team, in a sting operation running from December 2025 to August 2026, claims Bhatia boasted of leaking Chennai Super Kings’ playing XIs to bookmakers and spoke openly of spot-fixing, selection bribes, and “line-up leaks” in the Delhi Premier League.

None of it has been proven in court. The BCCI and ICC have not ruled on it. Law enforcement has not established it. But the claims are incendiary.

IPL 2025 Under the Microscope

Tehelka’s report details multiple conversations in which an undercover reporter, posing as a bookmaker, allegedly drew Bhatia into revealing how he could supply inside information.

The most explosive claim concerns IPL 2025 and Chennai Super Kings.

According to the investigation, Bhatia told the reporter he had passed on CSK’s playing XI to London-based bookies during the 2025 season, using Snapchat as the channel. The report says he claimed he received Rs 60 lakh per match over five games — a total of Rs 3 crore — purely for advance access to the team sheet.

The information, he allegedly said, came from a contact inside the CSK squad. The report itself does not name any CSK player.

That vacuum of detail has created its own swirl. Other outlets, covering the Tehelka story, have mentioned CSK and Central Delhi Kings batter Vansh Bedi — but only in the context of a Times of India report that said Bedi had reported a bookie’s approach to the sport’s anti-corruption unit.

Bedi has hit back hard, labelling any attempt to link him to wrongdoing “highly defamatory” and dismissing the allegations outright. As things stand, Tehelka’s own investigation does not accuse him of leaking XIs or fixing.

The report also claims Bhatia suggested he could repeat the XI-leak arrangement for IPL 2026, if a player he knew was picked in the auction, and then mirror the model in the Delhi Premier League.

The picture painted is not of dramatic no-balls or dropped catches on cue, but of something more mundane and insidious: advance access to team combinations, a crucial edge in the betting markets.

“Line-Up Leaks” in the Delhi Premier League

The investigation doesn’t stop at the IPL.

Tehelka describes what it calls “line-up leaks” in the DPL — team XIs allegedly passed to bookmakers before they are publicly announced at the toss.

In those recordings, the report says, Bhatia offered to provide Central Delhi Kings’ playing XIs during the 2026 DPL season. He initially quoted Rs 40 lakh per match, before the price was negotiated down.

The sting claims that ahead of two Central Delhi Kings fixtures, the XIs Bhatia supplied did not match the final teams announced, something he reportedly blamed on late changes. The third test came before a match against North Delhi Strikers on August 3, 2026.

This time, Tehelka says, the XI he provided matched the official one. The alleged payment settled at Rs 3 lakh.

The report goes further. It alleges Bhatia spoke of the possibility of spot-fixing in future Central Delhi Kings matches, including what he described as an attempt to arrange a run-out. In separate conversations, he is quoted as claiming he had already engaged in spot-fixing in the past.

According to Tehelka, Bhatia said he bowled two deliberate wides in the 2018-19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in exchange for money from bookmakers. The report adds that he played his domestic cricket for Nagaland.

The same investigation claims Bhatia boasted of paying a bribe to secure his own Ranji Trophy selection for Nagaland in 2018-19. It also alleges that, in his role as a school-level selector and coach in Delhi, he suggested school-team spots across age groups could be bought.

None of these claims have been independently verified.

DDCA Calls for Caution, BCCI Silent So Far

With the Delhi Premier League and Central Delhi Kings dragged into the narrative, the Delhi and District Cricket Association has been forced to respond.

The DDCA issued a carefully worded statement, urging 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 is a line that underlines the current status of the case: serious accusations, but no formal findings.

The BCCI, which has lived through multiple match-fixing and betting scandals over the last two decades, has not yet made any public comment on the Tehelka report. No official investigation has been announced.

For now, the story lives in a tense space between undercover journalism and formal adjudication — a place where reputations can be bruised long before any verdict is delivered.

The numbers are stark: crores allegedly paid for team sheets, lakhs for domestic XIs, claims of bought selections and manufactured wides. The questions are starker still.

How deep does this really go, and who will move first to find out?