Betting with balls in Mohali

Champions Trophy games move to Mohali this week, home of Kapil Dev and a memorable story involving a British punter caught betting online in the press box earlier this year.

During the second Test between England and India in March, a young British 'journalist' sat down in front of myself and the man from Wisden. His laptop was always half-closed although enough to show the Betfair website. I briefly chatted with him at tea being a fairly novice reporter abroad myself; he was shaking and I took it as rookie nerves, not betting ones.

On the second day, we watched as he was escorted out of the press box by stadium officials and into the hands of the television cameras; tipped off by the journalist who reported him in the first place. He attempted to leg it but found a dead end and so the barraging of questions began.

It emerged that he was 22-year-old Rajeev Mulchandani, an Oxford graduate turned professional gambler, who was rumoured to have won £21,000 over three days. After gaining media accreditation and the use of wi-fi access, it meant he was always one step ahead of the bookies.

Just before he was turfed out we put our mobile numbers on a piece of paper, which was circulated among the press box, for a party at the British High Commissioners that night. A genius idea from one Indian journo as it contained Mulchandani's name and number. Calls to his home in London ensued and stories all over the Indian media the next day. Mulchandani - I'll never forget the name.

Click here to read how events unfolded further.

Cricket World's Island Diary No.2

Michael Vaughan sent the England rugby squad a good luck message prior to their epic win over Australia at the weekend. Although Jonny Wilkinson couldn't quite manage to knock up a cricket score, England will be hoping for the some of the same during the Test series here. However, the last time England's rugby stars defeated Australia (Melbourne, 25 june) England's cricketers then took a hammering by South Africa, thanks to Graeme Smith's 259 at Lord's.
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A rich or successful Sri Lankan will not always succeed in love, if the families who arrange marriages have any say in the matter. Each week the country's wealthy society eagerly awaits the Sunday Observer - the leading English-language newspaper - on this beautiful island. But on reading the 'Marriage Proposals' section, you would have thought that a person's birth sign was the most important factor in a country where families pay close attention to caste, dowry and education. One recent prospective parent seeked an English-educated businessman for their attractive daughter, adding: 'caste immaterial if horoscope and general background exceptionally compatible.'
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Sri Lanka's betting industry doesn't just amount to how many wickets Murali might take over a Test series. Giant satellite dishes are popping up all over Colombo such is the flourishing popularity on many sports including horse racing. But it is not Sri Lanka's top jockeys taking on the pace up in the hill country's Nuwara Eliya course that is the punter's daily talking point, more likely whether Nick Littmoden can keep up his early season form or if AP McCoy can bag another in the 3:15 at Chepstow.