IPL spot-fixing: BCCI may suspend guilty players
Cracking the whip, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may suspend the two players who were caught in a TV sting operation admitting to spot-fixing in IPL. According to Times Now, the BCCI is likely to suspend T Sudhindra and Shalabh Shrivastava from all forms of cricket. Sources added that the decision will be taken in the IPL General Council meeting that is scheduled to be held later on Tuesday.
On Monday, a sting operation carried out by India TV showed five domestic-level players, representing various IPL franchises, apparently succumbing to the lure of fixing. It showed these players discussing the alleged involvement of IPL captains and even team owners in such activities and engaging in lengthy haggling over the price of bowling a no-ball on demand in the IPL. The players were also seen discussing deals in which IPL owners allegedly pay players sums “in black” well beyond the slabs prescribed by the league.
The accuracy of the channel’s claims or the statements attributed to the players could not be independently verified by TOI. The five players caught on camera include Team Hyderabad pacer T Sudhindra, formerly of the rebel ICL, who is shown confessing to having bowled a no-ball in a domestic game at the TV channel’s insistence and boasting that spot-fixing, could be done at any level of Indian cricket, including IPL.
Spot-fixing is common but the rates differ according to the standard of the game, the player apparently insisted. Sudhindra was also shown as saying that franchisees were gifting players cars and flats since the IPL had capped remunerations for first-class players. Team Punjab’s left-arm pacer Shalabh Shrivastava is another former ICL player apparently caught on camera. He apparently said that franchisees, hampered by the Rs 30 lakh cap on domestic players, were paying some players an additional Rs 70 lakh in black money.
He is also seen demanding Rs 10 lakh per no-ball for the IPL and claiming women were being used to befriend players before cajoling them into fixing games. Shrivastava added that “two or three” out of 10 players were vulnerable and that “everyone got offers”.