Hindustan Times (Chandigarh)

Kanpur betting probe revisits IPL’s past dark chapters

- Sanjjeev K Samyal

BCCI IS TAKING CONFIDENCE FROM THE FACT THAT IT IS THEIR ACSU WING THAT HAS SHOWN ALERTNESS AND ACTED ON THE CASE.

MUMBAI: Just when it looked like the Indian Premier League (IPL) would pass off peacefully, the money-spinning tournament has been left fighting the betting menace following the arrests made in Kanpur on Thursday.

A BCCI insider informed that further investigat­ion would be carried out by Kanpur Police. Acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary could not be reached for comment.

The Indian Board is taking confidence from the fact that it is their ACSU wing that has shown alertness and acted on the case.

There’s every chance more skeletons may tumble out of the cupboard.

However, initial inquiry points to a new modus operandi of the illegal betting syndicate, which seems to be going after soft targets, luring them with money for inside informatio­n.

Like it happened during IPL 2013, when the current chief of BCCI’s ACSU, Neeraj Kumar, led the police investigat­ion into spotfixing in the league.

While the IPL has grown in popularity in its 10 years, it has been plagued by corruption, spotfixing and illegal betting.

Indian cricket is still reeling from the IPL 2013 spot-fixing. A grim reminder is the absence of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, both serving twoyear suspension­s, after individual­s from its team management were found guilty of indulging in illegal betting.

The IPL spot-fixing also engulfed the careers of talented India pacer S Sreesanth, left-arm spinner Ankit Chavan and Ajit Chandila, with all three RR players banned for life by the BCCI.

The involvemen­t of Gurunath Meiyappan, top CSK official, eventually led to the ouster of his father-in-law, N Srinivasan, as BCCI president.

However, the spot-fixing scandal led to increased vigilance and the current case was tracked by the BCCI’s ACSU.

“We put a lot of emphasis on player education, including the staff and coaches, how they have to be alert all the while and report any suspicious approach,” said a source in the know-how of ACSU’s functionin­g. It helped as the players and other team members have become difficult to crack.

PROMPTLY ALERTED

Last season, there was a case of a senior West Zone player who received an approach immediatel­y notifying the ACSU, who put his number on surveillan­ce.

The Kanpur case means the betting mafia continues undeterred. In the current case, the target of the betting mafia seems to have been pitch-fixing.

The BCCI insider though argued it will be difficult to manipulate the playing surface as the chief curator oversees it. “The person caught is not the head curator; there is a team of groundsmen which works on the wicket.”

However, just being able to read the pitch is valuable knowledge for the betting mafia, especially in cases when the track plays different to what is expected. NEW DELHI: There were huge expectatio­ns from Rio Olympic bronze-medallist Sakshi Malik at the Asian Wrestling Championsh­ips here. But the Indian wrestler fumbled at the final hurdle against Olympic champion Risako Kawai to settle for silver in women’s 60kg category.

The Indian lacked aggression and was outplayed in two minutes 44 seconds, losing 10-0.

The Japanese wrestler raced to a 4-0 lead in the opening 90 seconds. With another good move, she ended the Indian’s dream of winning gold. Sakshi admitted she wasn’t prepared for the meet. The long break after Rio Games perhaps had its impact, she said. But she was hopeful of making amends in the Worlds in August.

“I have enough time to prepare for the global meet,’’ she said.

Sakshi had married Satyawart Kadian in the first week of April and though she joined the national camp within a fortnight of her marriage, she struggled to keep her weight in check. Initially, she was supposed to contest in 58kg but had to later switch to 60kg.India’s Vinesh Phogat, who returned from injury she sustained at the Rio Games, also settled for silver. She lost to Sae Nanjo of Japan 4-6 in 55kg final.

Divya Kakran too bagged silver, losing to Japanese Sara Dosha 8-0 in 69kg final. Earlier, Ritu Phogat bagged bronze in 48kg category after her opponent Yanan Sun gave a walkover.

GOOF-UP

Two Sri Lankan grapplers — Shriyanthi­ka Niroshani (48kg) and Anusha Kumari Wijesinghe (53kg) — missed their qualificat­ion round in the morning due to official goof-up. The two were waiting at the team hotel for official transport, which didn’t arrive. They were unable to reach the venue in time for their respective bouts.Sri Lanka official Jagath Piyaratna said he will complain to the Asian body. “Someone should take responsibi­lity,’’ he said.

 ?? AFP ?? The match between Delhi Daqredevil­s and Gujarat Lions at Green Park in Kanpur was a highscorin­g affair.
AFP The match between Delhi Daqredevil­s and Gujarat Lions at Green Park in Kanpur was a highscorin­g affair.

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