SPOT FIXING EVEN IN 5TH EDITION OF IPL

 Rajasthan Royals off-spinner Ajit Chandila had allegedly received Rs 15 lakh from bookies as an advance last month to 'fix' an over in the May 17 game against Hyderabad Sunrisers, top police sources say. 

But he could not carry out his plans because he was arrested on May 16. 

The Faridabad cricketer had allegedly made an additional Rs 12 lakh in an IPL game last year. This confirms that the illegal money-making racket was prevalent in IPL 5 too and had gone unnoticed by ICC's anti-corruption unit and other law enforcement agencies last year. 

Overall, Chandila allegedly pocketed a cool Rs 49 lakh working for three different gangs of bookies in this year's IPL. He was also in cahoots with a fourth group of bookies whose details are not known yet, sources say. 

Chandila's total earnings through unfair practices spread over two IPL seasons added up to at least Rs 61 lakh but he had to return Rs 20 lakh from this sum for having forgotten to signal the bookie in the game against Pune Warriors on May 5. 

A top Special Cell officer of Delhi Police said that the spinner had met bookie Deepak Kumar alias Rocky in Chandigarh on April 4 and struck the deal to fix the May 17 game. The reason why he struck a deal for a game being played so late in the season was simple: he had already 'spot-fixed' the earlier games with other bookies. 

Investigations have revealed that Deepak was approached by a top bookie with D Company connections to get the deal done with Chandila. "We are looking for this man and hence do not want to divulge his name," said the officer. 

Cops have given out details of Chandila's dealings with three sets of bookies. "He received Rs 25 lakh from the Sunil Bhatia group. That includes Kiran Dole and Ranji cricketer Baburao Yadav, this year. He had received Rs 12 lakh from the same group last year. Similarly, he accepted Rs 15 lakh from Deepak's group and another Rs 9 lakh from the Chandresh Patel-Mannan and Ajit Singh group." 

According to the ongoing probe, the May 17 match was the fifth IPL game that was targeted by the bookies for spot-fixing this year; the previous ones being the matches on May 5, 9, 12 and 15. The spot-fixing could not take place on the May 12 match as the two players whom bookies roped in did not play, a senior police official said.

RAJASTHAN ROYALS TO PLAY MUMBAI INDIANS IN 2ND QUALIFIER IN 6TH EDITION OF IPL

They have shown remarkablefighting spirit despite the demoralising spot-fixing scandal and the Rajasthan Royals will now look to upstage the mighty Mumbai Indiansin the second qualifier on Friday to book, what would be, a dream final berth in the Pepsi IPL.

On paper, Mumbai Indians may appear stronger but Rajasthan will be high on confidence after their four-wicket win against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Friday's match will determine the Chennai Super Kings' opponents in the Sunday summit clash at the same venue.

In a shocking last week, the Royals were shaken to the core by the spot-fixing scandal. Just when they needed something special, a 29-ball 54 by Brad Hodge not only boosted their morale of the team but revived the Royals campaign by taking them into the second qualifier.

Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, are coming here after a 48-run thrashing by Chennai Super Kings in the first qualifier. They had been defeated in their last league match as well, suffering a 50-run loss toKings XI Punjab.

Add to this, a left wrist tendon injury to their senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar which has led to uncertainty over his participation in the knockout match even though the team is hopeful of his recovery.

Unlike Rajasthan, Mumbai Indians are a big-spending side boasting of a star-studded and balanced side. But it is not just about talent as proper application has turned out to be their real problem.

Mumbai Indians had their best run in 2010, finishing runners-up to Chennai Super Kings besides winning the Champions League Twenty20 the next year.

In the ongoing edition, they are still struggling to find a regular pair of openers. Mumbai Indians are yet to get their combination right even after 17 games.

Chasing 193 against CSK in their previous match, Mumbai's batting crumbled under pressure while their so-called disciplined bowlers leaked too many runs.

But Michael Hussey and Suresh Raina stood out with an unbroken 140-run partnership with a strike rate of about 200.

Mumbai would also take confidence from Dwayne Smith's ominous form as they found an explosive opener in the West Indian who struck a 28-ball 68. On the flipside, Dinesh Karthik and skipper Rohit Sharma could not capitalise and choked under pressure.

Smith would be their trump card so would be his compatriot Kieron Pollard against a team which has little spin ammunition with the duo of Ankit Chavan and Ajit Chandila behind the bars in the spot-fixing scandal.

That they have a superior spin attack in Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha would prove to be a crucial edge for the Mumbai Indians on the sluggish Eden wicket.

Likewise, Royals have the batting firepower in the Aussie duo of Shane Watson and Brad Hodge with the latter coming to form just at the right time.

The 38-year-old Victorian, who made his T20 debut in 2003, is arguably the most-experienced player in the shortest format with 5548 runs from 195 matches.

When Mumbai travelled to Jaipur in the first-leg they endured an 87-run loss, being bowled out for a paltry 92, but they bounced back in the return leg with a 14-run win.

When it comes to Eden, Mumbai have an edge having won more than the Royals who suffered an eight-wicket loss to Kolkata Knight Riders here.

The last time Royals came here, Rahul Dravid was too defensive with his strategy. But time has come for the Rajasthan Royals to play some aggressive cricket.

Warner handed financial penalty for twitter rant

DAVID WARNER

                               

 Australian batsman David Warner was on Wednesday fined $5750 byCricket Australia for his expletive-laden twitter rant against two noted cricket writers.

Cricket Australia (CA) found Warner "guilty of breaching the CA Code of Behaviour" during a hearing.

Warner pleaded guilty and was handed the maximum penalty, for a first offence under rule 6 of CA's Code of Behaviour.

Warner had reacted on his twitter page to a critical article on the Indian Premier League, followed by sensational spot-fixing scandal.

"At the hearing tonight, CA Senior Code of Behaviour Commissioner, The Hon. Justice Gordon Lewis AM, found Warner guilty of breaching Rule 6: Unbecoming Behaviour regarding Twitter comments made by Warner at the weekend," a Cricket Australia release said.

"In hindsight, clearly I let my frustrations get the better of me and posted some inappropriate tweets last weekend. While I disagreed with the story and my image being used alongside the story, I could have chosen my words better and I apologise for any offence that my language may have caused. I'll continue to have honest conversations with all my followers and I will be mindful of the language I use in future," Warner said.

MARK WAUGH

                               

Reacting to David Warner's twitter rant against two journalists, former Australia Test batsman Mark Waugh on Monday said that some players are getting ahead of themselves and need to pull their heads in.

"It's a pretty inexperienced squad (Australia national team)...there's not many senior players...we lost Mike Hussey and Ricky Ponting. You don't really have the core group of senior players who can knock things on the head.

"Young players are getting a lot of money and getting there pretty easily aren't they? They're getting to the top without having to do a whole lot of hard work, so maybe they're getting ahead of themselves," said Waugh.

"There's probably certain players who need to pull their heads in and concentrate on cricket," he added.

Waugh although said Warner's outburst was "no big deal", he insisted that the explosive batsman showed "signs of a bit of immaturity".

"Dave Warner has only played 19 Tests... He shouldn't even worry about these sorts of things. He should just be concentrating on his cricket," Waugh said.

"I mean it's not a good look for David Warner I think it's the second or third time he's sort of tweeted out some words which haven't been that smart. He's got to learn from this. Its not the ideal situation you want to see from supposedly one of your senior player or one of the most important players in your squad," said Waugh.

"He's probably got to get a thicker skin really... As a player you're not going to get people telling you how great you are every day of the week. There's times you've got to cop the good with the bad and I think he's had problems doing that so far in his career," he added.

Warner attacked two noted Australian cricket writers on his twitter page after one of them wrote a piece critical of the IPL, which is currently mired in a spot-fixing scandal.

Warner, who plays for the Delhi Daredevils, launched a series of abusive tweets, and in response to that Cricket Australia decided to conduct a hearing against him after charging the player for a breach of its code of behaviour.

Pacers in India not given enough encouragement:DALE STEYN

The world's numero uno fast bowler, Dale Steyn feels always looking up to spinners for wickets is not the right way to go about encouraging the crop of pacers in India. "If you're always going to look at the spinners to do the job for you, what's the point of even having a fast bowler," asked Steyn. 

Aware of India's "rich tradition" with spinners, Steyn gave an example from the recent India-Australia Test series to make his point. "I watched the recent Test series between India and Australia and at one stage Ishant (Sharma) bowled his first over of the match with the second new ball! There's not a lot of confidence your captain is giving you as a fast bowler when he gives you the ball only after 80 overs. 

"I say this with due respect to M S Dhoni because they went on to win the Test series 4-0. But for a bowler like Ishant it doesn't say a lot to him. I'm sure he buys into the team's plans and priorities and so he's fine with it. "But when questions are raised about Indian fast bowlers - which I think will always be raised - I think that's your answer right there," the South African was quoted as saying by the T20-League website. 

Steyn, who plays for Hyderabad in the T20 Cricket League, added that wickets here are not condusive for fast bowling. "The wickets here aren't really helpful for them either and I feel for the Indian fast bowlers. If Ishant wants to come to South Africa, he'll make the team any day, I can promise you that. He's a fantastic bowler. 

"Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshar Kumar are other two very good bowlers. They just need the right conditions. If you're going to give them spinning wickets, it's going to be difficult. If you'll give them the ball after 80 overs, it's going to be even more difficult." 

ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY 2013

One of the most anticipated cricketing events of 2013 is going to be the Champions Trophy 2013. The Champions trophy 2013 fixture has already been crafted by ICC. The tournament will begin from June 6 and will be hosted by England. There will be as many as fifteen one day international matches in the tournament. The tournament will continue till June 23, 2013. This tournament is going to be a part of International Cricket Council’s Future Cricket Tour Program. The opening match of the tournament will be played between South Africa and India on June 6th, 2012, to be held at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. 

 

There are going to be eight teams participating this year in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013. These teams have been pooled in two different groups. All the teams in one group will have at least one match against each other. There will be allocation of points for each of the matches throughout the competition. After the matches of the group stages have concluded, the two top teams from each group will qualify for the semi finals of the tournament. The Group A winner will face the Group B runner up in the first match of the semi final and the Group B winner will face the Group A runner up in the second match of the semi final. As obvious as it may seem, the winners of this round will be meeting each other at the finals. The Champions Trophy Schedule PDF will be available in the internet very soon.

 

As for the points, there will be two points for winning a match, one for a tie and none for losing. Teams in Group A are England, Sri Lanka, Australia and Sri Lanka. Teams in group B are Pakistan, India, West Indies and South Africa.

In the South Africa vs India ODI match, it would be interesting to know who will be top spinner on this cricket pitch with interesting fight between cricket bat and cricket ball in ICC Champions Trophy 2013. Some cricket websites like sky sports, star cricket and cricinfo provides latest cricket score on ICC Champions Trophy 2013 Tournament. If you reside in North America, you can watch ICC Champions Trophy 2013 live on internet by using cricket willow website. Cricket Tickets of Champions Trophy 2013 are expected to available at www.Seatwave.com. Booking tickets for India vs South Africa, first ODI match could also be done there.

                             SCHEDULE OF ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY 2013

Date and Time	Match Details and Series
Thu May 30  13:00 local | 12:00 GMT	Warm-up ODI - Pakistan vs Sri Lanka  Edgbaston, Birmingham
Sat Jun 1  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	Warm-up ODI - India vs Sri Lanka  Edgbaston, Birmingham
Sat Jun 1  13:00 local | 12:00 GMT	Warm-up ODI - Australia vs West Indies  Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
Mon Jun 3  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	Warm-up ODI - Pakistan vs South Africa  Kennington Oval, London
Tue Jun 4  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	Warm-up ODI - Australia vs India  Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
Tue Jun 4  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	Warm-up ODI - Sri Lanka vs West Indies  Edgbaston, Birmingham
Thu Jun 6  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	Group B : 1st ODI - India vs South Africa  Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
Fri Jun 7  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	Group B : 2nd ODI - Pakistan vs West Indies  Kennington Oval, London
Sat Jun 8  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	Group A : 3rd ODI - England vs Australia  Edgbaston, Birmingham
Sun Jun 9  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	Group A : 4th ODI - New Zealand vs Sri Lanka  Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
Mon Jun 10  13:00 local | 12:00 GMT	Group B : 5th ODI - Pakistan vs South Africa  Edgbaston, Birmingham
Tue Jun 11  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	Group B : 6th ODI - India vs West Indies  Kennington Oval, London
Wed Jun 12  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	Group A : 7th ODI - Australia vs New Zealand  Edgbaston, Birmingham
Thu Jun 13  13:00 local | 12:00 GMT	Group A : 8th ODI - England vs Sri Lanka  Kennington Oval, London
Fri Jun 14  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	Group B : 9th ODI - South Africa vs West Indies  Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
Sat Jun 15  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	Group B : 10th ODI - India vs Pakistan  Edgbaston, Birmingham
Sun Jun 16  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	Group A : 11th ODI - England vs New Zealand  Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
Mon Jun 17  13:00 local | 12:00 GMT	Group A : 12th ODI - Australia vs Sri Lanka  Kennington Oval, London
Wed Jun 19  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	1st Semi Final ODI - TBC vs TBC (A1 v B2)  Kennington Oval, London
Thu Jun 20  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	2nd Semi Final ODI - TBC vs TBC (A2 v B1)  Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
Sun Jun 23  10:30 local | 09:30 GMT	Final ODI - TBC vs TBC  Edgbaston, Birmingham

FOR MORE DETAILS VISIT OFFICIAL WEBSITE http://www.icc-cricket.com/championstrophy

SREESANTH SAYS " I AM INNOCENT"

AJIT CHANDILA          SREESANTH        ANKEET CHAVAN

In his first public statement since his arrest last week,Sreesanth has denied any wrongdoing. Sreesanth and his two Rajasthan Royals team-mates, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila, who were arrested on Thursday for their alleged involvement in spot-fixing, were remanded on Tuesday by a Delhi court to a further five days in police custody.

They were charged by Delhi Police under three laws of the Indian Penal Code: Section 409, which deals with criminal breach of trust and is a non-bailable offence; Section 420 which deals with deal with fraud and cheating; and Section 120B, which deals with deals with criminal conspiracy. The Delhi Police had registered cases against the players under Sections 420 and 120B when they were arrested in the early hours of May 16. The charge under 409 was added to the list following Rajasthan Royals' complaint against the three*.

SREESANTH

"I am innocent and have done no wrong," Sreesanth said in a statement emailed by his lawyer, Rebecca John. "I have never indulged in any spot-fixing." He said he was confident that his name would be cleared. "As a cricketer, I have learnt to take knocks along with accolades, in my stride. I recognise that I am going through a tough period in my life. I have utmost faith in our judicial process and I am confident that with time I will be proved innocent, and my honour and dignity will be vindicated and restored."

His statement came on a day when he was first sighted since his arrest, dressed in a blue T-shirt on his way to court.

At the hearing, the police told the court that they were analysing the recorded conversations of players and bookies. Voice samples of the accused had been taken to match them with the recorded conversations. Additional Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan told the magistrate that during the investigation several new names had cropped up and their details would be submitted to the court in a sealed cover on Wednesday.

Sreesanth's advocate John opposed the plea for police remand saying no ground was made out for seeking his further custody. She said the agency had made all recoveries and confronted all the accused with one another for the past five days.

The decision to charge the cricketers under Section 409, which carries a maximum punishment of life imprisonment, is seen as unusual as the law applies to a "criminal breach of trust" by anyone considered a "public servant" or "in the way of his business as a banker, merchant, factor, broker, attorney or agent." There were, however, two possible lines of arguments that the law could be applied to cricketers, according to Vidushpat Singhania, sports law expert and principal associate, Lakshmi Kumaran and Sridharan. The first was that, "the player is acting as an agent, in this case of Rajasthan Royals - he has been entrusted with a property under the contract with Rajasthan Royals - and he has breached that trust."

The second argument that could be made was that a player could be considered a public servant because, "he has, in Sreesanth's case for example, represented India and he has again, breached that trust they have in him." In February 2011, the Supreme Court had, for example, upheld a Kerala High Court decision that the state's cricket association officials could in any case, be considered "public servants".

Singhania said should this charge carry through and be upheld by the court, the punishment would be very stringent and could set a precedent in the future for cases involving fraud on the part of athletes, even without the introduction of a new law pertaining to fixing in sport. "There are provisions of criminal law that make it possible for it to be interpreted for the larger public good against a criminal offence."

However, it would appear that the first argument is the one being employed in this case. According to a report in the Hindu, Additional Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said Section 409 was invoked because Sreesanth had violated the terms of his Royals' contract. The contract and its financial benefits, he said, were decided upon as per Sreesanth's "past experience and his match-winning abilities and it was an exclusive contract which granted him playing rights and performing rights, and the agreement did not allow performance for individual gain".

Sreesanth's advocate John countered that he was not entrusted with any property, or with any dominion over property, to be charged under this offence.

In a separate development, Mumbai Police announced it had made three fresh arrests, including that of Virendra Dara Singh Randhawa, also known as Vindoo, the son of famous Indian wrestler Dara Singh.

"The first [arrest] is that of Alpesh Patel, who was a hawala operator connected to these bookies. We have recovered Rs 1.28 crores (US$230,000) in cash from his premises," Himanshu Roy, joint commissioner of police (crime) in Mumbai, said.

"[Vindoo] has also been arrested for links with bookies who have been arrested by us (on Saturday)," Roy said. "The third is Prem Taneja. There are in remand till May 24."

Meanwhile, PTI reports that the government-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd suspended Sreesanth, who was employed as an assistant manager in its marketing division and posted at Irumpanam, near Kochi.

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