Tainted IPL teams to receive punishment

India’s Supreme Court will give ruling on corruption scandal on Tuesday


Afp July 13, 2015
Chennai Super Kings batsman Michael Hussey plays a shot during the IPL Twenty20 cricket 2nd Qualifying match between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on May 25, 2012. PHOTO: AFP

NEW DELHI: Two teams from cricket’s Indian Premier League (IPL) could be banned from the glitzy T20 tournament when a Supreme Court-appointed panel hands down its sentence on Tuesday on a corruption scandal.

Officials from the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the Rajasthan Royals have already been found guilty of betting on matches and their respective teams now face heavy sanctions after an inquiry that also tainted International Cricket Council supremo Narayanaswami Srinivasan.

An outright ban on the two former champions would be a devastating blow to what is only an eight-team tournament, and observers say former chief justice Rajendra Mal Lodha, who heads the three-man panel, is more likely to announce heavy fines.

Lodha was appointed head of the sentencing panel in January after the Supreme Court had found Royals’ co-owner Raj Kundra and CSK’s Gurunath Meiyappan guilty of betting on the outcome of matches in 2013.

The court had rejected the claims of Meiyappan, who had previously been described as team principal, that he was merely an enthusiast.

The court also ruled at the same time that Srinivasan, who is Meiyappan’s father-in-law, would be banned from holding any post in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), where he served as the president for three years from 2011.

The outcome could have major financial consequences for some of cricket’s biggest names as CSK are captained by India’s ODI captain MS Dhoni while Australia’s star batsman Steve Smith is at the helm of the Rajasthan Royals. The Royals are coached by Indian great Rahul Dravid.

Cricket circles are abuzz with speculation that the two teams will be suspended, but leading sports writer Ayaz Memon predicted that the franchises would get away with heavy fines.

“I can’t see them being banned because that could ruin the entire tournament and have a ripple effect on sponsors and broadcasters,” said Memon. “There is too much at stake. My thinking is they will be fined heavily.”

The 2013 IPL season was mired in controversy after police launched legal proceedings against several officials and cricketers, including former Test fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, for illegal betting and spot-fixing.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14th, 2015.

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