Controversies that rocked the IPL

Photo: PTI

This was Indian Premier League’s first on-field controversy. Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) had beaten Mumbai Indians (MI) the first time the sides met on 25 April, 2008. S. Sreesanth, who took two wickets for KXIP, was spotted in tears after the match. He was allegedly slapped by the opposition skipper Harbhajan Singh. Later, the two reconciled. The latter was banned for the rest of the tournament, the hatched was buried. But Sreesanth, in 2013, alleged in a series of tweets that the incident was planned, that Harbhajan had not slapped but elbowed him. Harbhajan refused to comment on the allegations. But Justice (retd) Sudhir Nanavati, who headed the 'slapgate’ inquiry, contradicted Sreesanth’s claims.

Photo: K. R. Deepak

A special disciplinary committee set up by the BCCI accused the then IPL chairman Lalit Modi of eight different charges including financial impropriety, rigging bidding deals, offering bribes, betting and money laundering. Modi, who was the main man behind the cash-rich league, was suspended in 2010. “While we rejoice and celebrate the great success of the IPL season, the alleged acts of individual misdemeanours of Mr Lalit K Modi have brought a bad name to the administration of cricket and the game itself, the then BCCI president Shashank Manohar had said. In 2013, Modi was expelled from the BCCI.

Photo: AFP

Rahul Sharma and Wayne Parnell, who played for Pune Warriors in 2012, tested positive for recreational drugs after being detained by the police after a raid on a party in Mumbai in May. Sharma and Parnell were among 90 people detained at a hotel in Mumbai. But the matter was treated lightly as the drugs weren’t performance-enhancing. The then Pune Warriors skipper Sourav Ganguly said, “I don't think it was a performance-enhancing drug for which he (Rahul) should be punished. I think it was of those strange incidents, one unfortunate incident that should not cost him his India place.”

Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

Australian Luke Pomersbach, playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2012, was arrested by the Delhi police for assaulting a woman and her fiance. The woman, a U.S. national, alleged that Pomersbach assaulted her and her fiance in their room in the hotel where RCB stayed. Later, the woman decided to withdraw the case following an out-of-court settlement.

Photo: R. V. Moorthy

Two teams were banned for two years from 2016. One, a perennial underdog; the other, an every-season favourite—Rajasthan Royals (RR), the first IPL champion; Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the league’s most consistent performer. In 2013, Gurunath Meiyappan, a top official of the CSK and the son-in-law of former BCCI president N. Srinivasan, was arrested on charges of “cheating, forgery and fraud.” RR’s co-owner Raj Kundra confessed to betting in the IPL matches, involving his team. Three of his team’s players –S. Sreesanth, Ankeet Chawan and Ajit Chandila—were arrested by the Delhi Police for fixing games. After the match-fixing scandal of 2001, the aforementioned incidents fractured the integrity of Indian cricket.

1 / 0

This was Indian Premier League’s first on-field controversy. Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) had beaten Mumbai Indians (MI) the first time the sides met on 25 April, 2008. S. Sreesanth, who took two wickets for KXIP, was spotted in tears after the match. He was allegedly slapped by the opposition skipper Harbhajan Singh. Later, the two reconciled. The latter was banned for the rest of the tournament, the hatched was buried. But Sreesanth, in 2013, alleged in a series of tweets that the incident was planned, that Harbhajan had not slapped but elbowed him. Harbhajan refused to comment on the allegations. But Justice (retd) Sudhir Nanavati, who headed the 'slapgate’ inquiry, contradicted Sreesanth’s claims.