A gang of fraudsters hired farm labourers to play in a fake "Indian Premier League" designed to dupe punters.

Indian police have busted the scam which was set up on an isolated farm in the state of Gujurat and used a Telegram channel to take bets.

A police inspector has told reporters that the gang built a cricket pitch illuminated by halogen lamps, installed five high-resolution cameras around the ground, and used computer graphics to flash scores on a live stream.

The players wore the jerseys of legitimate teams such as the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, all coordinated by what was termed a Russian organiser.

The proper IPL season had already finished but that didn't deter the fraudsters, who downloaded crowd noise from the internet which was played over a loudspeaker.

They also employed someone who could mimic India's famous TV cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle.

To cover their tracks, camera operators avoided wide shots and used close-up shots of players.

The fake umpires followed instructions sent by walkie-talkies, as Russian punters were tricked into betting about $6000 before the scam was shut down.

"They signalled bowlers and batsmen to hit a six, four or get out," inspector Bhavesh Rathod told media.

Labourers and young unemployed were paid about $8 to play the games, which were aired on a YouTube channel named "IPL".

Police were tipped off when the tournament had got to the quarter-final stage.

Betting on cricket is illegal in India. The BBC reported that four people had been arrested.

Meanwhile, genuine commentator Bhogle saw the funny side, saying he wanted to hear his imitator.

"Can't stop laughing. Must hear this 'commentator'," he tweeted.