MUMBAI: With no other bidder in fray, newly launched Carlton Sports Network has acquired the terrestrial broadcast rights of international cricket matches played in Sri Lanka for a period of three years from 2012-15.

Sri Lankan pubcaster Rupavahini was the incumbent broadcast rights holder while India?s Taj Television holds the satellite broadcast rights for Sri Lanka besides global broadcast rights till March 2013.

Sri Lanka Cricket, the governing body of cricket in the country, had in January published ads in local newspapers and their official website inviting bids for the terrestrial rights.

According to an industry source, the amount CSN will pay for the rights is peanuts compared to what it is worth. Rupavahini had paid SLR 143 million to acquire the rights compared to CSN?s SLR 125 million.

Incumbent rights holder Rupavahini did not even put up a bid, despite the fact that it had made a killing from last year?s ICC World Cup when it earned a whopping SLR 556 million.

According to Lankan English Daily Mirror, Rupavahini chairman Mohan Samaranayake admitted that the pubcaster did not bid for the rights without offering any proper explanation.

To top it all, SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga is also the chief executive of CSN, a brazen case of conflict of interest which many in India would relate to courtesy BCCI president N Srinivasan who also owns an IPL team.

The Lankan government had last year passed a law which requires all local television and radio broadcast rights for cricket matches to be awarded to either state media or a dedicated sports channels. The law, many feel, was beneficial to CSN which was the only dedicated sports broadcaster in the country.

Incidentally, CSN also holds the broadcast rights for the Sri Lanka Premier League.

MUMBAI: The New Zealand series will mark the beginning of Star India?s partnership with BCCI after the former secured the media rights last month with a Rs 38.51 billion bid following a tight bidding process which involved rival Multi Screen Media (bid Rs 37 billion).

The BCCI has finalised the fixtures and venues for the first two series involving New Zealand and England. India will host three major international series from August 2012 to March 2013, involving ten Tests, five ODIs and four T20 Internationals.

The series between India and New Zealand will be played from 23 August-11 September, and feature two Tests and two T20 internationals. The first Test will be played at from 23 August at Hyderabad while Bangalore will host the second Test from 31 September.

The two T20 Internationals between the two teams will be played on 8 and 11 September at Vishakhapatnam and Chennai.

The India-England series, the broadcast rights of which are also with Star, will comprise four Tests, two T20 Internationals and five ODIs, from 15 November 2012 to 27 January 2013.

The Tests and T20s will be played in 15 November-22 December which will also mark the international debut of newly built MCA Subroto Roy Sahara Stadium in Pune, which will play host to the second T20 International.

The first Test will be played at Ahmedabad from 15 November while Mumbai will host the second Test starting 23 January. Kolkata and Nagpur will host the third and fourth Test from 5 and 7 December respectively.

The England team will fly home for Christmas, and return in the new year for a five-match ODI series to be played from 11-27 January. The series will feature the international debuts of as many as three venues, in the cities of Rajkot (new stadium), Ranchi and Dharamsala.

Following the India-New Zealand series, the two teams will fly to Sri Lanka to participate in the ICC World T20 2012. ESPN Star Sports has the telecast rights of the World T20.

The Airtel series between India and Australia will be played in February-March 2013, and feature four Tests. The match-schedule will be finalised soon.

MUMBAI: The ongoing controversies might just be the beginning of trouble for Indian Premier League as the union sports ministry has sought an enquiry into alleged wrongdoing in the cash-rich league.

While speaking in Lok Sabha, sports minister Ajay Maken revealed that the Sports secretary has written a letter to Revenue Secretary last week and has sought a thorough probe by Enforcement Directorate as well as Income Tax department.

He also told the House that Finance Ministry has issued 19 notices to BCCI on alleged foreign exchange violations to the tune of Rs 10.77 billion relating to the IPL.

Sports ministry joint secretary had also written a letter to ED on 17 May seeking speedy probe into the matter, Maken added.

The sports minister, who had failed in his earlier attempts to bring BCCI under National Sports Bill, also made a renewed call to bring BCCI under Right to Information.

Former cricketer and Bhartiya Janata Party MP Kirti Azad had vociferously raised the IPL issue in parliament by making a strong pitch for a special audit of the controversy ridden tournament. Azad was supported by other parties including JD (U) and Left members in his tirade against IPL besides his own party BJP.

The IPL has been in line of fire from the political class ever since Hindi news channel India TV carried a sting operation which brought to light the ?murky? dealings between players and the franchises. The sting also brought to fore the fact that IPL players, particularly the lesser known ones, were susceptible to match fixing.

The IPL Governing Council handed out suspension orders to Mohnish Mishra, Shalabh Srivastava, T.P. Sudhindra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali.

The matter is already being probed by newly formed anti-corruption unit of BCCI headed by Ravi Sawani, the former chief of ICC?s Anti-Corruption Unit.

MUMBAI: Already battling a range of scandals, the Indian Premier League has been hit by yet another one with a leading Hindi news channel claiming that several domestic and international players, both Indian and foreign, along with the team owners are involved in fixing matches.

India TV?s sting operation which was aired on Monday during prime time revealed that the fixing menace is also prevalent in domestic cricket with women playing facilitators role.

As a corrective action, the IPL Governing Council has handed out suspension orders to five uncapped Indian players on Tuesday with immediate effect pending completion of an inquiry.

The decision to suspend Mohnish Mishra, Shalabh Srivastava, T.P. Sudhindra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali was taken after a lengthy tele-conference of top BCCI officials and members of the IPL?s Governing Council.

Incidentally, the news comes just days after the BCCI announced the formation of an anti-corruption unit to be headed by Ravi Sawani, the former chief of the ICC?s Anti-Corruption Unit.

Deccan Chargers? T Sudhindra, according to the channel, had bowled a no-ball in last year?s first class match on their reporter?s insistence. He also assured to change his team in future if he was paid Rs 6 million.

Kings XI Punjab player Shalabh Srivastava demanded Rs 1 million for bowling a no-ball in a IPL match, the channel stated.

Mohnish Mishra, playing for Pune Warriors India, confessed that he was getting Rs 14.5 million from its owner Sahara whereas he was in the Rs 3 million slab.

Many other revelations came to light in the sting operation that probably for the first time in cricketing history, senior and junior cricketers playing in rival teams jointly fixed the outcome of matches.

A clear pattern has supposedly emerged where a particular bowler has bowled easy deliveries and dropped catches, while his ?partner in crime? went on a scoring spree, the channel averred.

The sting operation also brought to light the ?murky? dealings between players and franchises thereby bringing the issue to the fore what was only being spoken in hushed voices in cricketing circles.

IPL players caught during the sting also confessed to receiving more than the prescribed auction amount in the contract through illegal means which makes a mockery of the salary cap guideline laid down by the BCCI.

It needs noting that BCCI had in the past imposed bans on Chennai Super Kings? player Ravindra Jadeja and Royal Challengers Bangalore player Manish Pandey for negotiating with other team owners for a larger financial contract.

It is also widely believed that top players like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and MS Dhoni who were retained by their respective franchises have been paid more than the prescribed $2.4 million which franchises are supposed to pay for the first player retained.

The BCCI as usual has released a brief statement vowing to "act against corruption". However, it would be interesting to watch how the world?s richest cricket tackles the crisis.

"Some TV channels have been reporting a story pertaining to alleged unacceptable practices by players participating in the IPL. The BCCI will not tolerate any violation of regulations and any act of corruption," BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale said in a statement.

The complete footage of the ?sting operation,? will be sought, and examined thoroughly, Jagdale added.

India TV Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma on his part assured that it will extend all possible help to the BCCI.

"The BCCI has already asked us to provide the tapes and we are ready to cooperate not only with BCCI but also investigation agencies. We want players to play honestly and respect the fans who literally worship them," Sharma told the press conference that was telecast live on the channel.

He further revealed, "We had been working on this sting since May last year. We started it right after the IPL season IV ended and worked on it till 21 April 2102."

"We first spoke to Deccan Chargers player T P Sudhindra last year as agents of a sports management firm. He opened up very easily and gave us a lot of information on how spot fixing is prevalent in local, domestic and IPL matches.

"We didn?t trust him initially and to prove that it can be done, he bowled a no-ball in one of the domestic matches. Another thing was the revelation that Kings XI bowler Shalabh Srivastava was ready to do spot fixing during the current IPL."

Sharma also pointed out the names of two notables who refused to walk the path of their shamed fellow colleagues.
"However there were players like Kolkata Knight Riders? Rajat Bhatia and Rajasthan Royals? Samad Fallah who didn?t fall for the lure of money and we should appreciate them," said Sharma.

Last year, Pakistan players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were jailed in Britain for their role in spot-fixing during their test match against England at Lords in August 2010. The International Cricket Council subsequently banned the three players for a minimum of five years.

The spot-fixing scam had come to light after the now defunct British newspaper News of the World carried through a sting operation revealed how sports agent Mazhar Majeed boasted of how he could arrange for players to rig games for money.

MUMBAI: Softening its stance towards Sri Lanka Premier League, the Indian cricket board has said it is open to allowing its players to participate in the tournament.

BCCI president N Srinivasan has said that the cricket board would examine the request by SLC once the proposal comes to the table.

"Last time around, there were specific reasons why the BCCI could not support the tournament. And we informed the Sri Lankan board at that time. This time, if there are any proposals made, we will examine it. And we have to be satisfied that the doubts and problems we had last time will not continue," Srinivasan said.

The SLPL, which will be played from 10-31 August at Colombo and Pallekele, had failed to take off last year due BCCI?s refusal to allow Indian players in the tournament thereby hurting the tournament?s commercial viability in the Indian market.

Last time around, the BCCI had contended that the contract with SEV, the commercial rights holder of SLPL, does not safeguard the financial interests of the Indian players.

The BCCI also suspected that former IPL chairman Lalit Modi had interests in SLPL, a charge that was vehemently denied by both SEV and SLC.

The first edition of SLPL Twenty20 will feature seven provincial teams who will play a total of 24 matches with a compulsory ruling of no more than six overseas players in each squad.

The seven teams for SLPL are Basnahira Bears, Kandurata Kites, Nagenahira Nagas, Ruhuna Rhinos, Uthura Oryxes, Uva Unicorns, and Wayamba Wolves.

However, teams can field only four overseas players in the playing 11, while the remaining seven players will be Sri Lankans, with one player mandatorily being an under-21 cricketer.

All the matches of SLPL will be televised live, with Carlton Sports Network broadcasting the matches in the home market of Sri Lanka. CSN is reportedly owned by family members of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president of Sri Lanka.