Kings, Royals get the boot

Star-studded Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the most successful team of the Indian Premier league (IPl), and Rajasthan Royals (RR) were on Tuesday suspended for two years from the league in a clean-up of cricket following the 2013 betting scam involving their top officials Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra.

The son-in-law of then BCCI chief N Srinivasan, Meiyappan, a former Team Principal of India Cements ltd (ICl)-owned franchise CSK and Kundra, co-owner of Jaipur IPl Cricket Private ltd that runs Rajasthan Royals (RR), both of whom were earlier found guilty of betting were suspended for life from any matches conducted by BCCI.

The Supreme Court-appointed Justice lodha Committee also suspended the two from any cricket related activity for a maximum period of five years.

The verdict, read out by former Chief Justice of India Justice RM  lodha in the presence of the other committee members, said the cricketers who were part of the two teams were free to join any other outfit.

The committee also virtually indicted India Cements over the fact that it did not take any action against Meiyappan who was seen as the face of the owners of the CSK.Following the news, officials of the two franchises, the BCCI and the IPl went into a huddle to understand the implications of the judgement. The IPl governing council is going to meet in Mumbai on July 19 to discuss the road ahead for the tournament. 

“BCCI is committed to honour and respect judicial decisions and it would give its observations after the entire report is read and a collective decision is taken,” BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya said in a brief statement.CSK, whose top players include Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, held discussions with their lawyers and have planned to move the apex court against the panel’s decision.

Similarly, Rahul Dravid-mentored RR, whose players include stand-in India captain Ajinkya Rahane and Stuart Binny, was also said to be planning moves to seek relief.

RRs’ former co-owner Raj Kundra said he was shocked and disappointed by the punishment handed out to him.“Many inaccuracies...Have requested for a copy of the judgement- obviously very shocked and disappointed... #Faith,” Kundra tweeted.No decision was taken in the case of IPl COO Sundar Raman, who was also accused of wrongdoing, as lodha Committee believed that “it requires further investigation”.

As per the order, the two companies - India Cements and Jaipur IPl - cannot field their teams in the IPl for two years. The ruling is specifically against the franchise owners not the teams. It means IPl 2016 needn’t be a six-team affair as both franchises can, technically, still be auctioned out to other prospective buyers, and the teams can take the field next season under new ownership.

The onus is now on the BCCI to decide whether the teams will serve the two-year suspension and come back or play under different ownership. 

Tuesday’s order also raises questions over the continuance of Srinivasan as the ICC Chairman. His bete noire Aditya Verma of the unrecognised Bihar Cricket Association, has demanded that BCCI should take steps to end his tenure.

The three-member committee took around 45-minutes to make its report public and said the decision was based on disciplinary grounds. It refused to accept the argument that Meiyappan and Kundra were acting in personal capacities and thus the franchises could not be held responsible for their conduct. 

“Disrepute has been brought to cricket, the BCCI and the IPl to such an extent that doubts abound in the public whether the game is clean or not,” lodha, a former Chief Justice of India, said.“Jaipur IPl claims it is highly celebrated as a nursery of players. But three of its players have been accused of alleged spot-fixing. This shows that all is not well in their handling of affairs. The position of Raj Kundra with the Rajasthan Royals franchise - part owner and team official - means his actions brought the game, BCCI and IPl into disrepute.”

The committee was particularly severe against Meiyappan, who it felt had caused ‘huge injury’ to the image of the game.“His (Meiyappan) habit of regularly placing bets in IPl matches renders the argument of his being first offender and unblemished antecedents in previous IPl tournaments of no worth. That he suffered loss of Rs.60 lakh in bets shows that he engaged himself in heavy bets. It is his bad luck that he did not make money out of these bets,” Justice lodha said at a Press briefing.

“Any agony suffered by him because of media coverage or any hardship that may have been caused to him is too small in comparison to the huge injury he caused to the reputation and image of the game, the IPl and the BCCI. If the reputation and image of the sport are lost, what remainsIJ “Being 40 years of age, he is not young but middle-aged. It is difficult to accept that he has passion for the game,” Justice lodha said.

The committee also criticised India Cements for not taking any action against Meiyappan.“Not only that no urgent action was taken by India Cements against Meiyappan but as a matter of fact no action has been shown to have been taken against him. The order of suspension passed by the BCCI against GM after his arrest is not an action by India Cements against its official,” the panel said.