Kanpur betting probe revisits IPL’s past dark chapters
BCCI IS TAKING CONFIDENCE FROM THE FACT THAT IT IS THEIR ACSU WING THAT HAS SHOWN ALERTNESS AND ACTED ON THE CASE.
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.
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.