Of all the criticism the Indian cricket board received for its players' involvement in spot-fixing in the Indian Twenty20 league, the one which hurt most is that ‘there was no surprise at the development’.
The credibility of the cash-rich tournament has taken a severe hit after three Rajasthan Royals players were arrested on charges of spot-fixing.
With the BCCI reduced to a laughing stock in the world cricket community, its president N Srinivasan was at pains to defend his league. “I don't subscribe to the view that it's not surprising,” he said.
“I don't know about others, but I was shocked. It was a bolt from the blue. The BCCI is shocked that this has happened because we never expected this,” he said, adding that the league would go on.
Promise of action
The most shocking case has been that of Sreesanth.
“Here, as you see, the people involved are Ranji Trophy players and one of them is a Test player. That is what is shocking,” admitted Srinivasan, who has a direct stake in the IPL as the owner of CSK.
“We will do whatever is necessary. The sport is clean and we are running it clean. We have taken all the steps (to keep it clean). One or two bad eggs here and there cannot sully the entire game. We have taken a lot of time and energy to educate the players and have set up our own anti-corruption unit to keep the game clean. We will not hesitate to take the strictest action.”
{{/usCountry}}“We will do whatever is necessary. The sport is clean and we are running it clean. We have taken all the steps (to keep it clean). One or two bad eggs here and there cannot sully the entire game. We have taken a lot of time and energy to educate the players and have set up our own anti-corruption unit to keep the game clean. We will not hesitate to take the strictest action.”
{{/usCountry}}