Players who were banned in the IPL 2012 Scandal
Fans know about the team bans that took place in 2015, umpiring and ball tampering controversies, along with various others. Amidst the various controversies that have taken place in the league, one of them for which even most of the fans are unaware is the IPL 2012 spot-fixing scandal, where five players were banned from the tournament. Take a look at this blog as we discover the story behind the scandal and how the Indian media exposed it.
Following the instances that the BCCI and the Indian media earlier saw, it was clear that match-fixing took place on various occasions. However, in the IPL 2012 season, where five players received a ban in the tournament, the media played an important role in exposing the scandal. A sting operation was started by two journalists of India TV, Jamshed Khan and Sushant Pathak. They were investigative journalists who worked to expose this scandal from May 2011 to April 2012, playing a critical role in this scandal.
Jamshed and Sushant acted as the representatives of various IPL teams and approached the Indian cricketers in domestic games for some spot-fixing opportunities. It was exposed with this sting operation that various players indulged in spot-fixing, such as bowling a no-ball intentionally or manipulating some aspects of the game to get money in rewards. Along with that, it was also revealed by some players that they received money exceeding their IPL contracts, which also indicated that black money is involved in the IPL.
There were a total of five players who were involved in this spot-fixing scandal of IPL 2012, who are as follows:
The Sting Operation, which the two journalists conducted, was completed successfully, and they were waiting to reveal all the information they had acquired. On May 14, 2012, the sting operation was revealed by the media, and it shocked all the cricket fans worldwide, who were a lot excited about the Indian Premier League. Upon knowing this issue, BCCI took no time and suspended all five players who were involved in the same, but their investigation was pending. N Srinivasan, who was the President of the BCCI at that time, said, “We will not tolerate this nonsense.”
In order to take a deeper look at these allegations which were put on the players during the sting operations, Ravi Sawani was appointed by the BCCI to lead the inquiry. Sawani had already served in the Anti-corruption Unit of the International Cricket Council and was also a part of the BCCI’s Anti-corruption Unit at that time. He took a look at the allegations to decide the appropriate actions that should be taken against these players.
Upon taking a detailed investigation of the information received via the sting operation, the BCCI was able to impose these sanctions against the players:
These punishments given by the BCCI also show its commitment to protecting the integrity of cricket. Along with that, it also served as a warning for the other players about the consequences they would face if involved in such activities.
The Sting Operation held by India TV journalists Jamshed Khan and Sushant Pathak played an important role in uncovering the corruption that takes place in sports. By using their detective techniques, they acted perfectly for over a year to take out all the details from these players and helped to expose the activities that could have remained hidden for a long time. For various fans, this incident could be helpful as it brought light to the malpractices that took place in the IPL by the players. However, it had another important role, as it helped to expose the involvement of black money in IPL transactions.