Who is Sobers Joban, the Indian offering to fix Ashes?

The 31-year-old Chamba-born Joban has played for Delhi and Himachal Pradesh at the Under-19 and Under-22 level and was part of the 2002 Cooch Behar Trophy.

New Delhi: The menace of fixing rose its head once again on Thursday when The Sun tabloid released a video of its sting operation, where an Indian bookmaker named Sobers Joban was offering to sell undercover reporters details of 'spot-fixes' in the ongoing Ashes Test in Perth. Once again, it put an Indian context to the centre of a fixing controversy in cricket. But who is Sobers Joban?

Joban got his first name, Sobers, by his father Baljit Singh who is a fan of the legendary West Indies allrounder Gary Sobers. He now runs a cricket academy by the name of Lal Bahadur Shastri Coaching Centre in the Vikaspuri area of the national capital.

The 31-year-old Chamba-born Joban has, according to a Times of India report, played for Delhi and Himachal Pradesh at the Under-19 and Under-22 level and was part of 2002 Cooch Behar Trophy. He also played a CK Nayudu Trophy match after shifting base to Delhi in 2007.  

Joban was reportedly also involved in a fake-domicile case back in 2013 when some players from other states tried to obtain fake certificates to play for Himachal Pradesh. 

“My son used to organise matches in Delhi. Maybe he met someone there, how would I know?," Joban's father told The Indian Express. "Now that the ICC is investigating the case, let’s wait. If he has done something wrong, let them hang him… I asked him about the incident and he said he had not done anything wrong. He’s a grown-up, I can’t advise him.

"At one point, he was so depressed that I feared he would commit suicide," Baljit added.

In the video of the sting operation, Sobers claims that there is a possibility to fix matches in Australia's Big Bash (T20) League as well, besides the Indian Premier League (IPL).

He also went on to claim that he is linked to cricketers from Australia, Pakistan and South Africa, while adding that signals by players on the field work as indicators that the 'fix' is on. 

The Sun said their undercover reporters were told that fixes like exact runs scored in an over are possible for £140,000.