Backing his one-time nemesis Shashank Manohar over his scathing views that the cash-rich IPL has lost some of its credibility, former chairman of the T20 League Lalit Modi has said the upcoming season of the tournament needs to be suspended to clean up the game.
“I completely agree with Mr Shashank Manohar and his observations on the fact that the serious allegations regarding betting, spot-fixing and match-fixing are (sic) all seriously tarnished the image of the game and importantly, the fans and the public at large are slowly but surely starting to lose faith in the Indian Premier League in particular and game at large,” said Modi, based now in London, in a statement.
“Thus, as I mentioned yesterday in one of my tweets the biggest and most important task ahead of the BCCI now would be to win back the hearts and faith of the fans. And that in my mind can be done only by ensuring that the BCCI promote what should be a clean game of cricket,” stated the man whose brainchild was IPL.
“Given the above context and the current goings-on, I think it only right that until the faith of the people in the integrity of the game is restored, the IPL tournament for the year 2014 should be suspended”.
Season seven of IPL is set to be held from April 16 with the first part of the event scheduled in UAE because of the general elections in the country.
Former BCCI chief Manohar had yesterday issued a media statement demanding the upcoming season of IPL be suspended and all IPL matches be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
“The Supreme Court’s observation is that there are very, very serious allegations made in the report (about IPL spot-fixing) and unless the BCCI President (N Srinivasan) steps down, no fair probe can be conducted,” Manohar had said.