Why Lodha panel verdict is not too ominous for IPL

The Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha committee's verdict to suspend two leading teams in the Indian Premier League stable—Chennai Super Kings (CSK), which won the title twice under MS Dhoni, and Rajasthan Royals (RR)—for two years each, has brought the pompous IPL extravaganza to a sudden pause. While the verdict has raised serious questions about the future of players who have been part of the two teams, it has shed light on the ugliness lying beneath the exuberance and jubilation—real or faked—of the cheerleaders that have become the hallmark of IPL or any sport event in the country for that matter where huge money changes hands.

IPL’s downturn started when its founding chief Lalit Modi became the target of serious allegations of misconduct, indiscipline, misappropriation and financial irregularities effectively translating into looting IPL coffers and was eventually banished from the country in 2010. A large chunk of cricket enthusiasts thought Modi’s banishment would bring in fresh air into the way IPL was organised. But unfortunately they were wrong and matters only worsened in the following years.

Three Rajasthan Royals players were arrested in 2012; charges of betting and corruption were levied against Raj Kundra, then co-owner of Royals, and Gurunath Meiyappan, then official of Chennai Super Kings and son-in-law of N Srinivasan, who headed BCCI. It was alleged that leveraging his status as Srinivasan’s son-in-law Meiyappan took leeway to bet on games and pass on team information to bookies.

On the surface of it, the alleged misdoings of Kundra and Meiyappan have led to the suspension of the whole teams for two years irrespective of whether players actually involved in murky deals to rake in moolah in addition to the millions of dollars that top players bagged for agreeing to play for their respective teams.

While the suspension of the two teams looks damaging to the future of IPL, earnest cricket enthusiasts hope that the episode will tell apart the chaff from the grain. Another worry is whether IPL—which started as an eight-team format—will be reduced to six teams with the absence of Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. However, with huge money and stake being involved and advertisers and broadcasters batting for retaining the eight-team template, BCCI is unlikely to reduce the format to six teams. While it is difficult for RR and CSK to challenge the verdict of a SC-appointed panel, BCCI has three options in front of it—call in for new teams, ask for a complete overhaul of ownership of the suspended teams and bring in the old franchises—Pune Warriors India and Kochi Tuskers Kerala which has already expressed the desire to return to the fold.

However, the cricket body is likely to find it tough to reinstate the implicated teams, if it desires so. On the other hand, the verdict in the right direction in terms of ensuring what can be called ‘poetic justice’—that is, corrupt players and teams should have no chance to play IPL or any other sporting event for that matter. Therefore, the verdict should be welcomed wholeheartedly.

However, one questions remains—is merely suspending involved teams temporarily enough, considering the huge loads of money involved and the disrespect that a game like cricket—which has been a saving grace for sports enthusiasts in the country as the India continues to lag way behind peers in almost all other sport event. There are those who believe that a harsher punishment, involving life ban for players, officials and teams, would have been much more effective as a deterrent that will remind possibly wrongdoers before trying to earn disrespect for themselves, teams and the country by turning sports into a number game to bloat bank accounts.