IPL controversies before spot fixing

Chapter 30 IPL sizzles amp fizzles Publishers New Holland Publishers Australiau00a0 Available in India through online shopping for R 1200 When the Twenty20 Indian Premier League IPL was inaugurated in India in 2008 amid fanfare including scantilyclad cheer girls it was promoted as ldquocricket with more sixes than maidensrdquo It has been embroiled in various controversies including alleged matchfixing spotfixing bribery boozesoaked parties sexual charges assault climaxed by a mega movie star and owner of a franchise barred from entering Mumbairsquos Wankhede Stadium IPL was the brainchild of Lalit Modi the first IPL Commissioner But he was sacked by the BCCI Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2010 over lsquoalleged financial improprietiesrsquo and has been living in selfimposed exile in London ever since First the good points of IPL The spectators see the best players from yesterday today and tomorrow in action Old lsquofoesrsquo like Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds played side by side for the same team Mumbai Indians their misunderstandings sorted out Youngsters have a chance to play with and against cricketing legends It provides entertainment for the masses with towering sixes and cliffhanging finishes Now the minus points Who cares as to who wins Those cashladen franchises are neither National nor State teams They are teams made up of auctioned cricketers who play for money Bill OrsquoReilly had described Kerry Packerrsquos World Series Cricket in late 1970s as a circus with clowns players wearing colour clothing But in a way most of them were playing for their countries Worst of all these getrichquick IPL matches have been riddled with malpractices galore ldquoNot cricketrdquo just about sums up this mutant sport Hothead Bollywood actor and Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders coowner Shah Rukh Khan gestures towards a security guard blowing a whistle to direct children accompanying him off the playing field after the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and KKR at Wankhede Stadium in 2012 PICAFP Hidden issues IPL5 the 2012 edition of IPL brought out many hidden issues in the open A secret operation by an Indian TV channel led to the suspension of five cricketers for allegedly accepting bribes Hindustan Times India stated that just as spectators and journalists were raving about a number of close and exciting finishes came a TV sting operation that showed that some IPL players were agreeing to spotfixing which raised doubts about those lastover finishes being possibly contrived On May 14 2012 an Indian news channel India TV aired a sting operation which deceptively caught a person committing some secretive negotiation on television It caught five players discussing terms and conditions where they would be willing to do spotfixing BCCI and the IPL President Rajiv Shukla reacted to the TV news by immediately suspending those five uncapped Indian players TP Sudhindra from the franchise Deccan Chargers Mohnish Mishra Pune Warriors Amit Yadav and Shalabh Srivastava Kings XI Punjab as also Abhinav Bali from Delhi Mishra admitted to having said that franchises pay black money in a sting operation He was caught on tape saying that franchises paid them black money and that he had received Rs 15 crore about US300000 from the later among which Rs12 crore US240000 was black money Soon after there was a nasty verbal fight fist fight between Indiarsquos mega movie star and owner of IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders Shah Rukh Khan and officials of the Mumbai Cricket Association He was later banned from entering the Wankhede Stadium Mumbai This would be equivalent to Hollywood star Brad Pitt or Nicole Kidman getting banned from an Oscar Night The reaction was huge in India and some politicians demanded that the IPL which has been drawing big crowds and TV audiences be scrapped Luke over the top But there is more An IPL player Luke Pomersbach from Western Australia and playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in Delhi got in deep trouble in the 2012 IPL No stranger to rowdy behaviour he was suspended for drinking before a crucial match for Western Australia against South Australia in 2007 And in 2009 he was involved in two hitandrun incidents when driving a car over the limit Luke Pomersbachu00a0 In Delhi in 2012 his cricket career was placed on hold for allegedly molesting an American woman of Indian origin and for assaulting her fianceacute in a fivestar hotel He appeared in a Delhi court where he was granted interim bail He was also suspended by his IPL franchise for the rest of this tournament Sharda Ugra wrote in Cricinfo lsquoThe IPL is not the only sports league in the world offering insane salaries and party lifestyles European football the NFL and the NBA to name a few are full of stories of the kind the IPL has produced this week May 2012 These leagues are decades old but the IPL into its fifth year is just beginning to identify its conflict zones It is what happens when money power alcohol and entertainment meet entitlementrsquo Shane Warne had also received a warning for using expletives in IPL4 His franchise Rajasthan Royals decided to take disciplinary action against him After an internal probe his team found the legendary Australian guilty of publicly insulting Sanjay Dixit the secretary of his franchise Its CEO Sean Morris said lsquoThe player Warne has accepted the action that we have taken and he apologised for any distress caused We have told all our players that we will not tolerate colourful language towards anyone and in particular not a senior officerrsquo Two Pune Warriors players Rahul Sharma and South African Wayne Parnell were also in trouble for allegedly attending a party that was busted for drugs Their blood and urine samples were taken along with those of over 80 others after police allegedly found cocaine at the rave party There were also scandals involving women which have rocked IPL The most striking was the role of Sunanda Pushkar a businesswoman and an Indian celebrity She was at the centre of a saga that ended with the dismissal of two men from their positions of power In 2010 then IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi had claimed that Shashi Tharoor a Cabinet Minister at the time had gifted Sunanda a stake in Rendezvous Sports World a coowner of the Kochi franchise There were allegations that Pushkarrsquos stake was a proxy for Tharoor Kochi mess Modi further alleged that Tharoor had instructed him not to reveal identities of the stakeholders of Kochi IPL franchisee Tharoor denied these allegations The two kept going hammer and tongs at each other This disharmony was the ideal opportunity for Modi and Tharoorrsquos detractors to unseat both of them All in the game Shashi Tharoor with Sunanda Pushkar During IPL5 in 2012 Preity Zinta an actress and the coowner of the Kings XI Punjab franchise allegedly tangled with umpires over the controversial dismissal of her teamrsquos batsman Shaun Marsh The incident took place in Mohali after Marsh was dismissed in a controversial manner He edged a Brett Lee delivery to Kolkata Knight Riders wicketkeeper Manvinder Bisla who claimed a clean catch even though TV replays suggested otherwise Kings XI Punjab captain Adam Gilchristrsquos had to apparently calm actress Zinta down after she had rushed onto the ground during the strategic timeout and reportedly clashed with the match officials As we go to press the Mumbai police have reportedly confirmed that Indian legspinner Rahul Sharma and the South African fast bowler Wayne Parnell tested positive for recreational drugs This was after a raid on a party in Mumbai in May 2012 Both had played for Pune Warriors in IPL 2012 Despite all these hooha IPL will not go away It is a gloss and glam entertainment wrapped within a business which mints money The players are tempted because of easy dollars and the crowds lap it up because of the instant gratification But is it good for cricket For example have a look at what it did to Indian cricketers They were the lauded and applauded World Cup champions on April 2 2011 IPL4 started a week later and the momentum was lost some got injured and others lost their focus It would be too simplistic to blame IPL alone for Indiarsquos pathetic performances in the Test series in England in 2011 and in Australia in 201112 Surely there were other reasons but if one does not have fierce focus on the game the results are disastrous Quick moneyspinners like IPL snap onersquos concentration the will to succeed and the determination to win There is much more about IPL that needs looking into It sizzled in its formative years but appears to be fizzling out The plot thickens u00a0