Cricket's Indian Premier League was thrown into turmoil Tuesday when a Supreme Court-appointed panel suspended two of the eight teams after officials were found guilty of illegally betting on matches. India's board said it would respect the verdict and pledged to clean up cricket after the shock decision to ban the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals for two years to protect "the integrity of the game."
CSK, led by India's one-day international captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and the Royals, skippered by Australian star Steve Smith, had hoped to escape with heavy fines but the panel was in no mood for leniency. It also banned Gurunath Meiyappan - the son-in-law of Narayanaswami Srinivasan, the Chennai franchise owner and the current boss of the International Cricket Council - for life from cricket-related activities.
And a similar punishment was handed down to Raj Kundra, co-owner of the Rajasthan team and husband of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. "Their conduct has affected the image of the game, the players and others associated with the tournament," the panel's chairman Rajendra Mal Lodha told reporters while announcing the verdict in the capital New Delhi.
Asked about the financial losses of players, Lodha said: "We did not consider financial losses to players and teams. That is not significant. "The integrity of the game is what matters," added Lodha who is a former chief justice. The outcome could have major financial consequences for the glitzy Twenty20 league which draws some of the biggest names in world cricket and raises questions over the future of the two franchises which are both former champions.
It was not immediately clear whether the two franchises can be sold, thus allowing the cricketers to continue to be part of the IPL which is overseen by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the BCCI, said the board would give its full observations after reading the entire report but was "committed to honour and respect judicial decisions".