The piece which appeared in yesterday's The Australian newspaper about an Indian Premier League batsman deliberately playing slowly when just the opposite was required, according to two IPL officials, is disturbing

Mystery batsman and misty IPL

The journalist's credentials cannot be doubted. The writer, Malcolm Conn, was the one who broke the story about Shane Warne and Mark Waugh being penalised by the Australian Cricket Board (now called Cricket Australia) for accepting money from a bookie, who wanted some information during the 1994 Singer Series in Sri Lanka. Conn was given the Walkley Award, Australia's most prestigious media award for his 1998 story.

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The reason I can't read too much into Conn's latest story is because there are a few people who have axes to grind with players and the easiest thing to do is to leak information, which may not be true. The report does not mention in which edition of the IPL this happened. Presuming it is the last one played in India, how come the player was not dropped like a hot potato?

Before the last IPL, I heard about a player being pulled up by his franchise, that felt he was under-performing on purpose, via a text message. The player didn't know how to react so he called up someone who has been close to him since his childhood. He was advised to tell the co-owner of the team that if he felt he was not performing, the franchise could terminate his contract.

'The Australian' could be referring to the same player. If so, I don't believe he could be involved with bookies. He may have shown signs of disinterest and his form may have not been flash enough to please his team's coaching staff. But playing into the hands of bookies? Let's say the possibilities are as far fetched as Pakistan coming out sparkling clean in the current spot fixing controversy.

The IPL is a great tournament for spectators, but it can also be a platform for dissent among teams, especially those run by foreign coaches. We've heard stories aboutu00a0 teams being dividedu00a0- between firangs andu00a0 Indians. And those outfits were nowhere near a semi-final spot in the last IPL. These divisions will lead to all sorts of loose talk, and things will reach a boiling pointu00a0-- not necessarily in the IPL, but maybe in international matches.u00a0

Hence, it will be interesting to see the atmosphere when Delhi Daredevils' Virender Sehwag clashes with Kings XI Punjab's Kumar Sangakkara. After all, we've not seen the last of the no-ball incident in Sri Lanka where Sehwag was denied a one-day international 100 by a Sangakkara-led Sri Lankan outfit.