A story in today’s Indian Express claims that Kings XI Punjab co-owner Preity Zinta told the IPL working group she suspected a number of her players of “suspicious activities” but had failed to come forward earlier because she had no proof.
Citing anonymous sources, the story claimed that Zinta “pulled up players who she thought weren’t playing fair, dropped them from games and even put them up for auction” and that she had tipped off other franchises about the players she suspected.
While the paper was unable to reach Zinta for comment, she posted on her Facebook page after the story came out denying it in its entirety:
“This piece of article is completely false, libel per say, inaccurate and an irresponsible piece of journalism,” Zinta said. “I really would like to know who these sources are in this story?
I am very proud to be part of KXIP. We have the best team & support staff & under No circumstance will I tolerate slander towards me or my team, specially when it comes to our Integrity.
I will sincerely appreciate it, if responsible media do not try to damage our reputation & business by fueling this false article.
A BCCI official who is also a member of the IPL working group disputed the story in a message to Firstpost as well. According to him, what Zinta did was advocate the use of random lie detector tests as a way of creating a foolproof system to prevent corruption. The use of lie-detector tests has also been advocated by others, including former Australia captain Steve Waugh.
The IPL working group was formed after the Supreme Court appointed Justice Lodha Committee banned the owners of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals from the IPL for two overs because their team owners – Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra – had gambled on matches. The four members of the group are IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary and former India captain Sourav Ganguly. The BCCI’s legal counsel, Usha Nath Bannerjee, is assisting the group as well.
Regardless of whether or not the story is an accurate reflection of what took place at the meeting, it is another blow to the image of the IPL, which has been beset by problems over the last three years. It has lost two teams – had two more suspended for gambling by the Supreme Court appointed Justice Lodha Committee – and has been hit by allegations about teams violating rules to sign players in 2012 and of spot-fixing in 2013 that led to three players from theRajasthan Royals being banned from cricket for life.
While it is often claimed that no publicity is bad publicity, the seemingly constant stream of negative news around the IPL is taking its toll. Owning a franchise in the league is less attractive than it used to be, with JSW deciding to hold off purchasing a team in the wake of the Lodha Committee decision. And sponsors and other team owners are becoming concerned.
.”The faith of cricket fans is important and needs to be restored in the interest of the game,” a PepsiCo India spokesman told the Mumbai Mirror through a written statement. And KXIP co-owner Ness Wadia told the Times of India that “sponsors will begin to lose faith in the running of the league if there is no stability”.
The BCCI has moved slowly to address a lot of these issues and if the board wants to avoid any more damage to its flagship tournament (let’s face it, the Ranji Trophy no longer has pride of place), it not only needs to act fast to clean up this mess, it needs to act in a transparent and public manner while doing so.
ref:firstpost
