Wednesday, June 12, 2013

IPL spot-fixing scandal: Bookie arrested

"Mohd Yahya, a resident of Mumbai, was arrested from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad. He was trying to flee to Dubai," Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told PTI.

He said Yahya is being brought to Delhi and that they believe that his questioning may throw "some fresh light" into the case. However, he refused to elaborate, saying they will reveal details at an appropriate time.

Police sources said his role in the scandal came up during interrogation of the bookies who are already arrested.

Police had earlier opened Letter of Cancellation against Yahya's passport and had informed airports to prevent his journey abroad.

They believe that his arrest may lead the investigators to the "doors of another IPL team" which is alleged to be involved in the betting racket.

The Commissioner had yesterday said that at least three more players and one more IPL team is under the scanner for spot-fixing in the tournament.

With the arrest of the bookie, a total of 19 people -- three IPL players, four former players and 12 bookies and their assistants -- have been arrested since May 16 in connection with the scandal that has rocked the cricketing world.

Chandila, Sreesanth and Ankit Chavan are the three IPL players who were arrested.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

IPL 2013 Live Cricket Score : Kolkata vs Pune

On a high after back-to-back wins, Kolkata will start favourites against the struggling Pune when the two bottom-half teams clash in Ranchi on Wednesday. Having achieved back-to-back wins, the Gautam Gambhir-led Kolkata may have to again depend on off-spinner Sunil Narine and experienced all-rounder Jacques Kallis against Pune, a team they beat only last week.
Both played pivotal roles in their win against Bangalore in their previous match. Kallis, who had an excellent outing with both the bat and ball against Bangalore, had said on Sunday that winning would motivate KKR to strive for what seems like an unlikely playoff berth.
Pune, on the other hand, would strive to sign off their campaign on a winning note to make up a bit for their 12 losses and a bottom finish. Pune would have to largely depend on Yuvraj Singh, but he would have to adapt well to the pitch which did not encourage big hitting during the KKR-RCB tie.
This had prompted Kallis to observe that the track at the Jharkhand State Cricket Association International Stadium was not ideal for Twenty20 cricket.
Supporting Kallis` observation, former Bihar Ranji Captain Adil Hussain said toss would be vital once again as the pitch appears not to "suit" limited overs cricket.
The Warriors, meanwhile, have been woefully out of sorts in all departments of the game. Only opener Robin Uthappa and all-rounder Angelo Matthews have shown some spark of late.
The batting is yet to fire in unison and only the openers have scored some runs at the top. Barring skipper Aaron Finch`s three half-centuries and Uthappa`s couple of half-centuries this season, no other Pune batsman has scored a fifty so far.
Yuvraj has managed just 205 runs from his 11 games, while dangerous batsman Steve Smith has returned to Australia due to a back injury.
Bowling also remains a big concern for Pune, especially at death as most of their bowlers have leaked runs. Pace spearhead Ashoke Dinda has been expensive in most of the games he has played.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

IPL HISTORY

The IPL is a Twenty20 cricket tournament which was inaugurated in 2008. Twenty20 cricket was first introduced at a competitive level by the England and Wales cricket board in 2003 but the Indian Premier League is largely credited with being the institution that projected the format of the game onto the world stage.

The Indian Premier League was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and has been an enormous success. The annual tournament, played in the months of April and May has gone from strength to strength and is largely viewed as being the 'richest' tournament in world cricket.

There are nine franchises that field teams to play in the IPL (in brackets original cost of franchise in $/million):
The Chennai Super Kings (91)
The Delhi Daredevils (84)
The Kings XI Punjab (76)
The Kolkata Knight Riders (75.1)
The Mumbai Indian (111.9)
The Pune Warriors (370)
The Rajasthan Royals (67)
The Royal Challengers Bangalore (111.6)
The Sunrisers Hyderabad (159)
The following two teams have played in the IPL but due to financial constraints have ceased to exist:
The Kochi Tuskers Kerala (333)
The Deccan Chargers (107)

The tournament has been won by four different teams:
2008 Final: Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals; Winner: Rajasthan Royals
2009 Final: Deccan Chargers vs Royal Challengers Bangalore; Winner: Deccan Chargers
2010 Final: Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings; Winner: Chennai Super Kings
2011 Final: Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore; Winner: Chennai Super Kings
2012 Final: Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders; Winner: Kolkata Knight Riders

As is evident from the above, the Chennai Super Kings are the most successful side in the history of the IPL, reaching all but one final and winning the tournament twice.
Until 2012 the Indian Premier League was sponsored by DLF after they paid $50million for the five year sponsorship. Pepsi will take over the contract for the 2013 IPL after paying close to 400 crore rupees for the 5 year contract.
In 2008 Sony paid $1 billion for the broadcasting rights over a ten year period. The IPL is watched across the world and in 2012 made history by becoming the first sporting event to be broadcast live on YoutTube.
The Indian Premier League has had it's controversies over the year, with Lalit Modi being suspended as Chairman and Commissioner of the IPL on the 25th April 2010 for what were deemed “alleged acts of independent misdemeanour’s”. More recently the player Mohnis Mishra was suspended from the game after becoming embroiled in a match fixing scandal during the 2012 tournament.
The tournament is the largest, best known and most prestigious Twenty20 tournament in cricket.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Mumbai Cricket Association wants proper procedure to be followed at BCCI meeting

While supporting the increasing clamour from members for the resignation of under-fire BCCI President N Srinivasan, Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) wants a proper procedure to be followed in achieving this objective.

MCA on Saturday insisted that everything should be done as per the BCCI's constitution at the crucial Working Committee meeting in Chennai on Sunday.

"We don't support any scandal in cricket. But we want a proper process to be followed so that any decision taken can stand in a court of law," MCA President Ravi Savant said on eve of the meet.

Savant said as per the BCCI's memorandum of rules and regulations, the working committee cannot remove the President and it can be done only by convening a special general body meeting for the purpose.

"The working committee cannot remove the president. The only way (for removal) is to call a special general body meeting of the BCCI."

Savant maintained that tomorrow's meeting has been convened without giving the mandatory three days' notice and hence it is 'unconstitutional'.

Consequently, "any decision taken in the meeting will be ineffective and cannot be implemented," said the MCA chief.

Savant will be representing MCA at the meet convened in the wake of defiance by Srinivasan, embroiled in the IPL scandal following the arrest of his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, who has till now ignored calls from several BCCI members to step down from his post.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

IPL spot-fixing: Major announcement soon, says Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: Before the emergency meeting of BCCI’s working committee, vice president Arun Jaitley has said that the cricket board is soon set to make a major announcement.

"Wait for a day, you will hear something significant," said Jaitley when asked if the five Vice Presidents of the Board, including him, could put in their papers on Saturday.






On Friday, two top BCCI officials, secretary Sanjay Jagdale and reasurer Ajay Shirke, quit from their respective posts in a bid to put pressure on beleaguered Ctricket Board president N Srinivasan in the wake of the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal.

Following the resignations, Srinivasan called an emergency meeting of the Board`s all-powerful working committee on June 8 to discuss the current crisis arising out of betting and spot-fixing in IPL.









On Friday, it was revealed that the transcripts of conversations between Meiyappan and small time actor Vindoo Dara Singh have revealed Meiyappan telling Vindoo that ICC had warned the BCCI about his spot-fixing trade offs.

It was also reported that someone in the BCCI had tipped off Meiyappan regarding the ICC warning, which in itself is a crime under Indian law.

Friday, May 31, 2013

Prime Ministeres Statement About Spot Fixing

The prime minister refused to be drawn into the controversy that top politicians, including ministers, were holding top positions in the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI).

"It is not proper for me to comment. I only hope that politics and sports don`t get mixed," he told the accompanying media on board his special aircraft after ending his five-day visit to Japan and Thailand.

Cricket has been in the midst of a major controversy following a spot fixing scandal involving players in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL).

Delhi Police busted the racket in the just concluded IPL, with the arrest of three players of Rajasthan Royals. This included controversial fast bowler S. Sreesanth.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Spot-fixing: IPL rocked by arrest of Sreesanth, 2 others

New Delhi: There is no "straight link" between bookie Ramesh Vyas and actor Vindoo Dara Singh arrested by Mumbai Police in the IPL spot-fixing scandal unearthed by their counterparts in the capital, Delhi Police said on Wednesday.

A senior official of Delhi Police`s Special Cell said the case of their Mumbai counterparts have nothing to do with theirs in which 18 people, including three IPL players, were arrested.


"There are no straight links with Vyas. There are no links with Vindoo Dara Singh," the official said when asked whether they have any links with the case unearthed by Delhi Police.



Delhi Police have arrested 18 people in their case while Mumbai police have apprehended nine persons, including Vyas and the actor.