• BCCI to auction uncapped players: Shukla

    Submitted by ITV Production on May 28, 2012
    indiantelevision.com Team

    MUMBAI: Rattled by the sting operation which brought unethical dealings between domestic players and the franchises to the fore, the BCCI has decided to auction all uncapped players from next edition of the tournament.

    "All domestic players will be put under the hammer from the next edition of the tournament," Shukla said.

    According to IPL players? guideline, the franchises are not allowed to pay more than Rs 3 million to uncapped players, which was a cause of anger among many domestic players who were missing out on big monies due to the rule of having an India cap in order to be included in the auction pool.

    Shukla said the reason BCCI did not auction uncapped players was due to the fact that franchises usually opt for well-known players.

    "This (not auctioning players) was done to open up opportunities for little known domestic players as teams normally go for the known faces only," he stated.

    He said the BCCI has "zero tolerance" towards corruption pointing out the suspension of five players caught in the sting operation pending inquiry. He also said a team of anti-corruption unit of ICC had been keeping a close watch on the players during IPL.

    In the same breadth, he added that the BCCI was not responsible for the conduct of players off the field.

    Shukla brushed aside the criticism by Member of Parliament and former cricketer turned MP Kirti Azad who had called for drastic measures to clean up the system.

    "If 2-3 MPs call for ban, it can?t be taken as view of the House. IPL-V has been very successful and was watched in 192 countries across the world. Hence people are jealous. Will Parliament be closed if some MPs do something wrong? These MPs don?t know the pulse of the people," he told a news channel.

    Image
    Shukla
  • Sports ministry calls for enquiry into wrongdoing in IPL

    Submitted by ITV Production on May 21, 2012
    indiantelevision.com Team

    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.

    Image
    Ajay Maken
Subscribe to