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Available for over a year

In July 2022, reporters in the Indian state of Gujarat broke a story that seemed unbelievable. In a tiny village in north-western India, police had arrested a gang of villagers for running a fake cricket tournament that they had made to look like the Indian Premier League. According to reports, the villagers broadcast their spectacle on betting websites and targeted gamblers from Russia. The story caught fire, drawing comparisons with the 1973 movie The Sting, in which Paul Newman and Robert Redford’s plucky conmen run a fake gambling parlour to rip off a mob boss. This drama-documentary explores the police allegations and media coverage of a story that could be ripped straight from the pages of a Bollywood script. Narrator . . . . . Ayesha Dharker Shoeb . . . . . Hiran Abeysekera Asif . . . . . Sid Sagar Jain . . . . . Tony Jayawardena Farooq . . . . . Sagar Arya Shuks . . . . . Danny Ashok Misha . . . . . Greg Kolpakchi Drama written by Ayeesha Menon Production Co-ordinator: Luke MacGregor Additional reporting: Harita Kandpal in Delhi and Laxmi Patel in Gujarat Sound design: Peter Ringrose Producer: Sasha Yevtushenko A ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Studios Audio production for Radio 4