Captain Tim Paine has dismissed allegations of fixing and Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland says there is no credible evidence linking Australian players to corruption after claims were made in a documentary against two unknown players.

Al Jazeera aired the allegations on Sunday, shining the spotlight directly on last year’s drawn Test between Australia and India in Ranchi, as one of several to be questioned across the world.

In the documentary, a criminal claims two unnamed Australian batsmen were paid to bat slowly during a period of play in the Test.



“At this stage it’s unsubstantiated claims. We’re confident that none of our guys are involved in it,” Paine said. “As far as I’m concerned our players have got nothing to worry about. I’m really confident none of our players are involved.”

Sutherland stressed there was no credible evidence linking any Australian players. Crucially, there is no time stamp on the footage, and there is no audio of any Australian player present in the documentary.

There was also no way for fixers to know which two batsmen would be batting together at any time in a match.

“Although not having been provided an opportunity to view the documentary or any raw footage, our long-standing position on these matters is that credible claims will be treated very seriously and fully investigated,” Sutherland said in a statement.

“Cricket Australia will continue to fully co-operate with the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit in its review of the matter. Cricket Australia and the ICC take a zero-tolerance approach against anyone trying to compromise the integrity of the game.

“Neither the ICC or Cricket Australia is aware of any credible evidence linking Australian players to corruption in the game.”

The documentary is the same one that claimed pitches were doctored to achieve desired results at Galle International Stadium in Sri Lanka. Australia were heavily beaten by 229 runs inside three days in 2016 at the coastal ground.

It is understood Cricket Australia had contacted players last week to alert them of the allegations.