Hyderabad: Bodugum Akhilesh Reddy, a Hyderabad-raised cricketer who represented the United States (US) in international cricket after failing to break into India’s domestic circuit, has been banned from all forms of the game for eight years by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after being found guilty of three counts of corruption during the 2025 Abu Dhabi T10 tournament in the UAE.
The 26-year-old, a right-handed batter and off-spinner who grew up in Hyderabad and was part of the state’s Vijay Hazare Trophy squad before serving as a net bowler for Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad, moved to the US after being unable to secure a regular place in domestic cricket. He went on to represent the USA in four T20 Internationals, claiming one wicket, and played for Washington Freedom in Major League Cricket.
His international debut came against the Cayman Islands in the North America T20 Cup.
The ICC, which was acting as the Designated Anti-Corruption Official (DACO) for the tournament on behalf of the Emirates Cricket Board, had provisionally suspended Reddy on November 21, 2025. The August 3 ban has been backdated to that date.
A three-member ICC Anti-Corruption Tribunal found him guilty of attempting to improperly influence the result or conduct of matches in the tournament, soliciting or encouraging another participant to do the same and obstructing the investigation by deleting data and messages from his mobile phone that may have been relevant to the inquiry.
The incident at the centre of the case took place on November 19, 2025, before the opening match of the Aspin Stallions. The tribunal found that Reddy approached a teammate, referred to in proceedings as “Player A,” and asked him to “give runs” while bowling, allegedly on the instructions of team management. The teammate refused and reported the matter to the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit, after which he was dropped from the playing XI.
Investigators also found that Reddy had deleted WhatsApp chats and call logs with the player before the probe began. Though he claimed it was routine data management, the tribunal ruled that he had deliberately destroyed evidence.
This is the second instance in quick succession of a USA cricketer facing an ICC ban. Aaron Jones, who was part of the USA squad that reached the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup on debut in 2024, was provisionally suspended earlier this year over alleged fixing during the BIM10 league in Barbados in the 2023-24 season. Jones has been charged with failing to disclose a corrupt approach and not cooperating with the investigation.
The ICC said in a statement, “USA player Bodugum Akhilesh Reddy has been banned from all cricket for eight years after he was found guilty by an ICC Anti-Corruption Tribunal of breaching three counts of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.”
This post was last modified on August 4, 2026 8:06 am