IPL History & 2013 IPL Controversy

            The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a big professional league for Twenty20 cricket championship in India. It was initiated by Lalit Modi, who served as the league's first Chairman and Commissioner and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner. It is currently contested by nine teams, consisting of players from around the cricketing world. It was started after an altercation between the BCCI and the Indian Cricket League.

In 2010, IPL became the first sporting event ever to be broadcast live on YouTube. Its brand value is estimated to be around US$2.99 billion in fifth season. However, the league has been engulfed by series of Controversies where allegations of cricket betting, money laundering and spot fixing were witnessed.

The Premier League is generally considered to be the world's showcase for Twenty20 cricket, a shorter format of cricket consisting only 20 overs. Top Indian and international players take part in IPL, contributing to what is the world's "richest cricket tournament".

In 2012 the naming rights for the series was awarded to Pepsi. Two eligible bids were received, with Pepsi winning over Airtel with a bid of  396.8 crore.

The IPL offers a total 25 crore in prize money.

·        Champions: 10 crore

·        Runner-up: 7.5 crore

·        Third place: 3.75 crore

·        Fourth place: 3.75 crore

·        No prize money for remaining teams

Teams in IPL:-

Team Name	City	Owner(s)	Price (in US $million)	Captain	Coach
Chennai Super Kings	Chennai	India Cements	91	M S Dhoni	Stephen Fleming
Delhi Daredevils	New Delhi	GMR Group	84	Mahela Jayawardene	Eric Simons
Kings XI Punjab	Mohali	Preity Zinta, Dabur Grup, Bombay Dyeing Group	76	Adam Gilchrist	Darren Lehman
Kolkata Knight Riders	Kolkata	Red Chillies Entertainment, Juhi Chawla, Mehta Group	75.09	Gautam Gambhir	Trevor Bayliss
Mumbai Indians	Mumbai	Reliance Group, Teest Retail	111.9	Rohit Sharma	John Wright
Rajasthan Royals	Jaipur	Lachlan Murdoch, UK Tradecorp Ltd	67	Rahul Dravid	Paddy Upton
Royal Challengers Bangalore	Bangalore	UB Group	111.6	Virat Kohli	Ray Jennings
Sunrisers Hyderabad	Hyderabad	Sun TV network	159	Kumar Sangakkara	Tom Moddy
Defunct
Kochi Tuskers Kerala	Kochi	Kochi Cricket Pvt Ltd	333
Deccan Chargers	Hyderabad	Deccan Chronicle	107
Pune Warriors India	Pune	Sahara India	370

  

Winners of IPL so far:-

Year	Winner	Runner	#	New teams	Dissolved teams
2008	Rajasthan Royals	Chennai Super Kings	8	----	----
2009	Deccan Chargers	Royal Challengers Bangalore	8	----	-----
2010	Chennai Super Kings	Mumbai Indians	8	----	----
2011	Chennai Super Kings	Royal Challengers Bangalore	10	Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Pune Warriors	----
2012	Kolkata Knight Riders	Chennai Super Kings	9	----	Kochi Tuskers Kerala
2013	Mumbai Indians	Chennai Super Kings	9	Sunrisers Hyderabad	Deccan Chargers

2013 IPL Awards:-

Winner: Mumbai Indians

Runner: Chennai Super Kings

Catch of the season: Gurkeerat Singh Mann (Kings XI Punjab)

Best young player: Sanju Viswanadh Samson (Rajasthan Royals)

Pepsi Atom MVP: Shane Watson (Rajasthan Royals).

Fair Play Trophy: Chennai Super Kings.

2013 IPL & Controversies:-

The 2013 Indian Premier League spot fixing case arose when the Delhi Police arrested three cricketers, Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, on the charges of spot-fixing. The three represented the Rajasthan Royals in the 2013 Indian Premier League. Sreesanth was arrested from his friend's house, whereas Chandila and Chavan were arrested from their team hotel in Mumbai. Rajasthan Royals suspended the contracts of the three players until the investigation is complete. The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) suspended the players till further investigation. Initially Sreesanth's father Shantakumaran Nair termed this to be a ‘larger conspiracy’, and blamed cricketers Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh for connecting his son with the scandal, but later retracted the statement and regretted.

 Delhi police have claimed that Sreesanth and Chavan have confessed being involved in the spot fixing. The police also claimed that Chandila had tried to get other players, including Chavan, involved in the spot fixing under the direction of the bookies. Delhi Police chief Neeraj Kumar said they had been taping phone calls since April 2013. He added, further arrests will be of bookies and no more players will be arrested.

Vindu Dara Singh (Hindi Actor) was arrested for alleged links to bookies in this spot fixing. Meanwhile in several cities like Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and others, Police intensified their searches. In Chennai CB-CID officials arrested nearly six people for illegal betting on the matches. Now there is protest across the country to ban IPL and case filed in Supreme Court, which was rejected by the apex court. The Apex Court also blamed BCCI for spoiling the game.

BCCI head Srinivasan's son-in-law Meyiappan arrested due to illegal betting on the IPL games. Now all are asking to ban Chennai Super Kings team itself as one of its franchise head itself involved in betting. More than this spot-fixing, betting, gambling, etc.... 100% POLITICS rules the IPL games now.... 

Though Mumbai emerged as Champion of IPL-2013 (much expected); hereafter only all the 4s and 6s will come in IPL. Let's wait and watch the game//////

IPL: spot-fixing; players arrested

            Over a decade after the match-fixing scandal involving Hansie Cronje rocked the cricketing world, the Delhi Police Special Cell has smashed a spot-fixing racket in the ongoing Indian Premier League matches with the arrest of Indian pacer S. Sreesanth and two of his teammates from Rajasthan Royals along with 11 bookies and middlemen. The cricketers — all bowlers — had allegedly struck a deal with the bookies to fix the number of runs they would give in a particular over for payments ranging from Rs. 40 lakh to Rs. 60 lakh. All the accused, who were arrested from Mumbai, Delhi and Gurgaon, were produced before a Delhi magistrate. They were remanded in five days police custody. The Special Cell has seized 51 mobile phones from the accused, besides five laptops and a recording device.

The main architects of the spot-fixing scandal had roped in the cricketers through their conduits living abroad. Call intercepts with the police suggest that the main conspirators had suspected links with the Mumbai underworld and were operating from countries such as the U.K., U.A.E. and Pakistan. Police investigations have revealed that Sreesanth was paid Rs. 40 lakh, his teammate Ajit Chandila was given an advance of Rs. 20 lakh, and Ankeet Chavan was offered Rs. 60 lakh. The spot fixing was done during three of the IPL matches. All payments were made through the hawala channel and would be probed by the Enforcement Directorate.

The Special Cell has tapped close to 2,000 calls running into over 100 hours of conversations among the bookies and the now-disgraced cricketers who were arrested in Mumbai. The breakthrough was achieved in April after an electronic surveillance team chanced upon a lead while eavesdropping on a conversation between a bookie and a Mumbai underworld suspect having links with top fugitive Dawood Ibrahim. Incidentally, the team comprised Inspector Badrish Dutt — who along with his live-in partner died of gun shot wounds in Gurgaon.

The call records of a bookie under surveillance led the police to a wide network of such elements operating from Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab and other States. Some of the bookies were conspiring with the three cricketers to hoodwink punters. Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said that, the police have intercepts revealing all the three cricketers were in direct touch with the bookies. The Police Commissioner said on at least three occasions they fixed spots.

 Drawing a parallel with the 2000 match-fixing scandal, Mr. Kumar said S. Sreesanth was paid Rs. 40 lakh through his close friend and a go-between named Jiju Janardanan alias Biju. The middleman, who earlier played for an Ernakulam cricket club along with Sreesanth, has also been arrested. Mr. Kumar said the modus operandi included asking the bowlers to give a pre-decided signal to the bookies before executing their jobs. Among the proposed gesture codes were rotating wrist watches or wrist bands, playing with chains, using towels and taking off cricketing gear. The bowlers were asked to concede at least a given number of runs, based on which the bookies would fix high rates and invite bets. The bookies made profits running into crores in the process.

Investigations by the Delhi Police Special Cell into the spot-fixing case have revealed that the bookies, apart from trying to influence the outcome of the number of runs in given overs, were getting bets placed on sessions or a span of seven overs in an Indian Premier League match and were trying to control the number of runs to be scored in that period. If the total in that particular phase of the match is within the score predicted by the bookies, they would pocket huge amounts. For example, if the punters predict that 66 runs are to be scored in the first seven overs, there would be people who put their money in the opposite scenario of the score exceeding 66. By making a bowler give away a certain number of runs, those paying him tend to give punters a semblance of an idea that the score is on course to exceed the predicted figure and thus raise the stakes. The result is more bets and hence more money for the bookies. Depending on the match situations, these projections are periodically revised as well.

The police are trying to ascertain whether the final score in some innings had also been fixed or not. Some matches, apart from the three which are being probed, are under the scanner.

Sports Ministry wants strict action:- The Sports Ministry asked IPL authorities to award deterrent punishment to the three cricketers, who were allegedly involved in spot-fixing in the ongoing tournament, if they were found guilty. The Minister of Sports, Shri Jitendra Singh, has spoken to IPL Chairman Shri Rajeev Shukla and impressed upon him to take urgent steps to put in place a mechanism to prevent such unethical activities and ensure clean sports in the country.

IPL withdraws Sri Lankan players from Chennai matches

            The Indian Premier League (IPL) General Council decided that Sri Lankan players will not play in IPL matches to be held in Chennai. Earlier, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that “the participation of Sri Lankan players in the IPL tournament, with many games to be played in Chennai, will aggravate an already surcharged atmosphere and further offend the sentiments of the people.”

Chennai is scheduled to host 10 matches, including a qualifier and an eliminator after the league phase. The Chief Minister’s letter prompted the IPL Governing Council to convene an emergency meeting where it was decided that Sri Lankan players and officials will not take part in the matches to be played in Chennai. It was a rather quick response to a strongly worded letter from the Chief Minister. The letter said that, The BCCI may be advised by the Government of India to prevail upon the IPL organisers not to allow Sri Lankan players, officials, umpires and support staff to take part in the tournament in Tamil Nadu. The Government of Tamil Nadu will permit IPL matches to be held in Tamil Nadu only if the organisers provide and undertaking that no Sri Lankan players, umpires, officials or support staff would participate in these matches.

This would be the second instance of the IPL saying no to players from a neighbouring nation, although, this time, they have been barred from taking part only in one city. Pakistan players have not been picked by any of the franchisees since 2009. Azhar Mahmood is the only Pakistani to have made it — to Kings XI Punjab — because he holds a British passport.

Recently, the Asian Athletics Championship, scheduled to be held in July in Chennai, was shifted. The State government cited pro-Sri Lankan Tamil sentiments among the people as the reason.

Online comments on the Lankan players to be out of Chennai in IPL:-

Why the North Indian media channels are shrieking in horror and wringing our hands in dismay at the decision of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to ban the stylish Lankan cricketers from playing in Chennai? ‘Well, Chennai isn’t India, how can she take a decision impacting the country’s foreign policy, traditionally considered the exclusive preserve of New Delhi?’ Jayalalithaa has decidedly taken her cue from New Delhi’s propensity to lasso sports into politics. Just as 26/11 and Kargil angered and shocked us at the duplicity of the Pakistani state, so has the killing of Tamilians in Lanka shocked their brethren in Tamil Nadu. The Lankan military bombed indiscriminately and relentlessly the civilian population of North and East Lanka in the months before the LTTE was decisively defeated and decimated. Thus, free from the fear of retaliation, the Lankan soldiers killed in cold blood, secure in the knowledge that they enjoyed impunity.

It is a humanitarian act. In fact, the Centre should have ensured that no Sri Lankan player participated in IPL. The move is not against the players or sports. It is an announcement to the international community that Tamil Nadu is sensitive to the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils.

The Shiv Sena ensured that Pakistani players were left out of IPL in 2008 (and still no Pakistani players is in IPL); Telangana agitation succeeded in shifting the venue out of Hyderabad in 2009. But when Tamil Nadu insists, the whole Indian ‘uncivilised’ media cries to a large extent, that Tamil Nadu is dangerous to Federal of India. Politics and sports should not be mixed up. But they forget the same mix up when India cancelled friendly match of Hockey with Pakistan earlier this month.

 Related links:-

Jaya's letter to PM on IPL matches to ban Sri Lankan Players from Chennai matches

Jaya's letter to PM on IPL matches in Chennai

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has written to the Prime Minister stating categorically that the Sri Lankan cricketers in the Indian Premier League will not be allowed to play matches in her state.

Here's the full text of her letter to the PM:

"I am writing to you on a matter of urgency and importance connected with the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. The recent continuous agitations in Tamil Nadu during the debate in the UNHRC have revealed the great angst and anguish amongst the people of Tamil Nadu with regard to this highly emotive issue. In this surcharged atmosphere the IPL cricket tournament is scheduled to be held at various locations including Chennai from 3rd April, 2013 onwards and will go on for over a month till the 26th May, 2013. I understand that almost all the participating teams have in their ranks Sri Lankan cricketers as their team members.

You are aware that the civil strife in Sri Lanka is a lamentable saga of an ethnic pogrom launched by the Sri Lankan Government, using Sri Lankan Army against Tamils, which resulted in the commission of genocide against a defenceless civilian Tamil population and the decimation of thousands of innocent women and children.

These human rights violations have been extensively documented in the international media and internationally condemned.

These painful events of genocide of innocent Sri Lankan Tamils have had a deep impact amongst the people of Tamil Nadu, who have been severely shocked, pained and angered by these barbaric acts.

Recently, against the background of increasing and credible evidence of continuing atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil Nadu witnessed mass agitations, hunger strikes, self immolations and the large scale spontaneous involvement of many sections of Society, including the student community, protesting against the Sri Lankan action against the Tamils.

I have also been regularly writing to you protesting against the repeated and unprovoked attacks by the Sri Lankan Navy on innocent Tamil Nadu fishermen on the high seas, which have caused the deaths of and injuries to scores of Tamil Nadu fisherfolk. Understandably, their sentiments, too, have been hurt by these brutal and hostile acts of the Sri Lankan Navy.

All political parties in Tamil Nadu have repeatedly voiced their grave concern regarding these issues. The atmosphere is, therefore, already surcharged with a groundswell of popular public opinion against the Sri Lankan Government.

In such a hostile and tense environment, we apprehend that the participation of Sri Lankan players in the IPL tournament, with many games to be played in Chennai, will aggravate an already surcharged atmosphere and further offend the sentiments of the people.

In view of the popular antipathy and anger in Tamil Nadu against the actions of the Government of Sri Lanka, the Government of Tamil Nadu is of the view that IPL matches involving Sri Lankan players, umpires and other officials should not be played in Tamil Nadu.

The BCCI may be advised by the Government of India to prevail upon the IPL organizers not to allow Sri Lankan players, officials, umpires and support staff to take part in the tournament in Tamil Nadu. The Government of Tamil Nadu will permit IPL matches to be held in Tamil Nadu, only if the organizers provide an undertaking that no Sri Lankan players, umpires, officials or support staff would participate in these matches.

I would be grateful for a line in reply in this matter."

Related links:-

Can't host Asian Athletics Meet in Chennai as Sri Lanka participates - Jayalalithaa

IPL matches with Lankan players must not be in Chennai - Jayalalithaa

IPL matches with Lankan players must not be played in TN: Jayalalithaa

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that no Sri Lankan player should play the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches in her state. Raking up the alleged war crimes committed by Sri Lankan armed forces against Tamils in the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Jayalalithaa said that there was a lot of anger in the state against what happened in the island nation.

In her letter, Jayalalithaa said, "In view of the popular antipathy and anger in Tamil Nadu against the actions of the Government of Sri Lanka, the Government of Tamil Nadu is of the view that IPL matches involving Sri Lankan players, umpires and other officials should not be played in Tamil Nadu. The Government of Tamil Nadu will permit IPL matches to be held in Tamil Nadu, only if the organizers provide an undertaking that no Sri Lankan players, umpires, officials or support staff would participate in these matches".

Earlier in February, Jayalalithaa had cancelled the Asian Athletics meet saying Sri Lankan players would not be allowed in Tamil Nadu. The AIADMK supremo had also asked the Central government to move amendments to the US-backed resolution on Sri Lanka over war crimes against ethnic Tamils. "Don't just support the US-backed resolution on Lankan Tamils issue at UNHRC, but strengthen it through suitable amendments," Jayalalithaa had written in a letter to PM Manmohan. India finally voted against Sri Lanka at the United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.

Jayalalithaa said the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) may be advised by the central government to prevail upon the IPL to not allow any Sri Lankans to take part in the tournament in Tamil Nadu.

Referring to the human rights violations by the Sri Lankan government against the Tamils and the continued attacks on Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy, she said: "All political parties in Tamil Nadu have repeatedly voiced their grave concern regarding these issues. The atmosphere is, therefore, already surcharged with a groundswell of popular public opinion against the Sri Lankan government."

She said the state government apprehended that the participation of Sri Lankans in the IPL tournament, with many games to be played in Chennai, would aggravate an already surcharged atmosphere and further offend the sentiments of the people.

Meanwhile, the participation of Sri Lankan players in the sixth season of the IPL remains doubtful, according to reports on Tuesday. Chennai Super Kings, who have Nuwan Kulasekara and Akila Dhananjaya in their squad, are waiting for the government and the BCCI decision before making a final call on their players' participation.

Sri Lankan Minister of Sports Mahindananda Aluthgamage said there was no need to communicate with the Tamil Nadu government over the issue and that Sri Lanka is coordinating with the BCCI and the Indian government. He said that, we have asked the BCCI and the Indian government to ensure security for players. If the Indian government doesn't provide security, players will be asked not play in Tamil Nadu. Former Sri Lankan spinner Muralitharan said, "If IPL asks us not to play, we will not play. Cannot comment as no one from IPL has contacted yet".

List of Sri Lankan players contracted to the eight IPL teams:

Sun Risers – Hyderabad (owned by SUN TV Maran – grandson of Karunanidhi)

Kumara Sangakkara (Captain)

Thisera Perera

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Sachithra Senanayake

Chennai Super Kings:

Akila Dananjaya

Nuwan Kulasekara

Delhi Daredevils:

Mahela Jayawardene

Jeevan Mendis

Mumbai Indians:

Lasith Malinga

Pune Warriors:

Angelo Mathews

Ajantha Mendis

Rajasthan Royals:

Kusal Perera

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Tilekaratne Dilshan

Muttiah Muralitharan

Related links:

Can't host Asian Athletics Meet in Chennai as Lankan Players participation - Jayalalithaa

Full letter to PM by Jaya on IPL matches in Chennai