A senior police officer claimed to have known about a phone conversation between a bookie and a “top cricketer”, who was part of India’s 2011 World Cup winning squad.

This information was collected while investigating the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing and betting scandal in 2013.

IPL franchises Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) were handed two-year suspensions for corruption in the cash-rich Twenty20 tournament after the probe was concluded.

The chief investigator of IPL 2013 scandal, senior IPS officer, BB Misra, on Thursday, revealed that an Indian player was in touch with a bookie. However, he claimed that he could not solve the case due to paucity of time and he did not name the player.

“There is one such instance related to an international match that was played in India. But I could not probe that instance to its logical conclusion. That is what I am suggesting. This thing happened during an international cricket match, probably in the run-up to the match. Just a day or two before the match. It happened in 2008-09,” Misra told Indian Express.

“It was a phone conversation (between the player and the bookie) that was recorded… It would have taken a lot more time (beyond) October 31. There are two voices on the telephone. Allegedly one is that of the player and the other one is of the bookie… I managed to speak to the bookie. He did say he was in touch with the player…I would have confronted the player with the information I got from the bookie. But (that) evidence didn’t come from the bookie though I knew the evidence existed, I could not pursue it,” Misra added.