Baljeet Joban, the father of former Delhi age-group cricketer Sobers Joban caught in the Ashes spot-fixing controversy, says his son has never even been to England or Australia, let alone fix matches involving the two countries.
“My son has never been to the UK or England and they ( The Sun ) are claiming that he could have fixed an Ashes Test,” Baljeet told PTI. “... he only goes to Dubai and Russia. Russia because he has a Russian girlfriend whom he will marry,” said Baljeet.
“Right now, I am not letting Sobers speak to anyone. No one from ICC ACU has contacted us,” he added.
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In DDCA circles, some old-timers, who had seen Sobers play in the league and also during age group trials, recall him as a below par cricketer.
“Joban used his influence and got him selected in the Delhi U-23 team back in 2007-08. He was below average. He played age-group cricket for Himachal Pradesh. Both father and son are big mouths known to make tall claims,” a senior DDCA official told PTI.
“I am fully convinced that neither Sobers nor Baljeet know any top Ranji cricketer leave alone an India player. They may get an odd selfie for an FB post. I don’t think this fellow would know any England or Australia player,” the senior DDCA official said.
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“But if he is such small fry or a pawn in a bigger conspiracy or was acting as a conduit for bookmakers or fixing syndicate, that needs to be probed by ICC’s anti corruption unit,” he added.