Match-Fixing Allegations Rock IPL Again: Rachit Bhatia's Sting Operation

The Indian Premier League has been dragged back into the shadows, this time by an undercover sting that alleges a web of corruption stretching from school cricket to the IPL and the Delhi Premier League.

At the centre of it all: former Ranji player Rachit Bhatia.

Tehelka’s Special Investigation Team claims it spent eight months, from December 2025 to August 2026, posing as bookmakers and sounding out Bhatia on what he could allegedly deliver. The result is a report that paints a grim picture of “inside information,” alleged spot-fixing and claims of bribery in selections.

None of it has been proven. Not by a court, not by the BCCI, not by the ICC, not by law enforcement. But the allegations are explosive enough to jolt Indian cricket’s corridors of power.

Alleged CSK line-up leaks in IPL 2025

The most incendiary claim concerns the Chennai Super Kings and the 2025 IPL season.

According to the Tehelka report, Bhatia told the undercover reporter he had passed on CSK’s playing XI to London-based bookmakers during five IPL 2025 matches. The communication, he allegedly said, happened over Snapchat.

The price for that information? The report says Bhatia claimed he received Rs 60 lakh per match. Five games. A total of Rs 3 crore, all for early access to team sheets.

Tehelka states that Bhatia claimed the information came from a contact inside the CSK squad. The report does not name that player. It stops short of linking any specific CSK cricketer to wrongdoing, even as it underlines the seriousness of “line-up leaks” in a tournament where every minor edge is traded in crores.

The ripples have been messy. Subsequent coverage by other outlets has mentioned CSK and Central Delhi Kings batter Vansh Bedi, but strictly in the context of a Times of India report that said Bedi had informed the sport’s anti-corruption unit about a bookie’s approach. No fixing allegation has been established against him.

Bedi, for his part, has gone public, calling any attempt to link his name to the fixing story “highly defamatory” and rejecting the association outright.

Tehelka further alleges that Bhatia boasted he could repeat the supposed CSK line-up access in IPL 2026, provided a player he knew was picked at the auction. He is also reported to have spoken of mirroring that arrangement in the Delhi Premier League.

For now, these remain words in a sting operation, not findings in an inquiry.

Delhi Premier League under the microscope

The investigation then shifts from the IPL’s global glare to the more modest but increasingly significant stage of the DPL.

Tehelka describes what it calls “line-up leaks” in the Delhi Premier League: playing XIs allegedly shared with bookmakers before they were publicly announced at the toss.

According to the report, Bhatia offered to supply this information for Central Delhi Kings matches during the 2026 DPL season. The initial quote, Tehelka says, was Rs 40 lakh per match, before the undercover team supposedly negotiated the figure down.

The report claims Bhatia provided early team information ahead of two Central Delhi Kings fixtures that did not tally with the final XIs. Bhatia is said to have blamed late changes for the discrepancies.

The pressure finally told, Tehelka alleges, before a third match: Central Delhi Kings vs North Delhi Strikers on August 3, 2026. On that occasion, the line-up Bhatia allegedly shared in advance reportedly matched the XI announced at the toss. The payment, according to the report, was settled at Rs 3 lakh.

Tehelka also alleges that Bhatia discussed potential spot-fixing scenarios for future Central Delhi Kings games. One example cited: an arranged run-out. Separately, the report says Bhatia claimed he had previously taken part in spot-fixing himself.

The most specific allegation in that regard concerns the 2018-19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. According to Tehelka, Bhatia said he bowled two deliberate wides in that tournament in exchange for money from bookmakers. The report adds that he represented Nagaland in domestic cricket.

Those claims, too, have not been independently verified.

Claims of selection bribery and a rotten pipeline

The sting doesn’t stop at match manipulation. It also takes aim at the integrity of the selection system.

Tehelka reports that Bhatia claimed he paid a bribe to secure his own Ranji Trophy selection for Nagaland in the 2018-19 season. The figure, the channels, the officials involved – none are detailed in the article, but the suggestion is stark: that a spot in India’s premier domestic competition could be bought.

The report then moves further down the ladder.

In what may be the most disturbing element for parents and young players, Tehelka alleges that Bhatia, describing himself as a school-level selector and coach in Delhi, claimed that selection in school teams across age groups could be arranged for a price. The report does not present corroborating evidence, and these allegations, like all others, remain untested.

If true, they would point to a system compromised long before players even dream of the IPL.

DDCA urges caution as BCCI stays silent

The Delhi and District Cricket Association, which runs the DPL, has been quick to step into the conversation, even as it keeps its distance from the substance of the allegations.

In a formal statement, the DDCA stressed that the claims aired in the Tehelka report are “unverified and have not been established by any competent authority.” It warned against rushing to judgement on “any individual, player or franchise” based solely on a single media investigation.

That line is crucial. For now, this is a journalistic sting, not a legal finding or a board verdict.

The BCCI, custodian of both the IPL and Indian domestic cricket, has yet to issue any public comment. No announcement of an internal probe. No referral to its Anti-Corruption Unit has been confirmed. Silence, at least for the moment.

Indian cricket has walked this road before. From the shadows of the early 2000s to the IPL spot-fixing scandal of 2013, every new allegation chips away at the trust that underpins every ball bowled and every rupee wagered.

The question now is simple, and unforgiving: does this latest sting trigger a serious, transparent investigation, or does it become just another warning sign ignored until the next scandal breaks?