USA cricketer Akhilesh Reddy handed 8-year ban by ICC for corruption offences | Cricket News
USA cricketer Bodugum Akhilesh Reddy has been banned from all forms of cricket for eight years after being found guilty of breaching the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Anti-Corruption Code.According to a press release from the ICC, the 26-year-old’s punishment is linked to corruption during the 2025 Abu Dhabi T10 tournament in the UAE. The ban has been backdated to November 21, 2025, when he was provisionally suspended. The ICC, which was overseeing anti-corruption matters for the tournament on behalf of the Emirates Cricket Board, found him guilty on three counts.According to the ICC, Reddy violated: “Article 2.1.1: Attempting to fix, contrive or otherwise influence improperly, or being party to an agreement or effort to fix or contrive in any way or otherwise influence improperly, the result, progress, conduct or other aspect of matches in the ADT10 2025.“Article 2.1.4: Soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging or intentionally facilitating (or attempting to do the former) another Participant to breach Article 2.1.1 of the Code in one or more Matches in the ADT10 2025.“Article 2.4.7: Obstructing the DACO’s investigation through deletion of data and messages from a mobile device which may have been relevant to the DACO’s investigation.”
How the case unfolded
The case relates to an incident on November 19, 2025, before the opening match of the Aspin Stallions. The tribunal found that Reddy approached a teammate, identified as ‘Player A’, and asked him to “give runs” while bowling, allegedly on the instructions of team management.After the teammate refused and reported the approach to the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit, he was dropped from the playing XI. Investigators also found that Reddy deleted WhatsApp chats and call logs with the player before the probe. Although he claimed it was routine “data hygiene,” the tribunal ruled that he had deliberately destroyed evidence.Reddy has played four T20Is for the USA, claiming one wicket. The verdict was delivered by a three-member ICC Anti-Corruption Tribunal.
