David Leggat: IPL suspensions no surprise

Stephen Flemming. Photo / Getty Images.

Punishments meted out to two Indian Premier League franchises and two leading officials should not come as a surprise.

There has long been a swirl of speculation that all was not above board in the league, and with suspensions in the past as well, it at least cast serious doubt on the goings-on behind the walls of the operation.

But instead of India's cricket body, the BCCI, taking remedial action on the league, it has been left to a panel appointed by the country's Supreme Court to do what the cricket bosses were unable, or unwilling, to do.

Two year suspensions have been recommended for the Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. Life bans have been sought by the panel for Royals' Raj Kundra and Chennai official Gurunath Meiyappan.

Meiyappan is also son in law of the head of the International Cricket Council, N.

Srinivasan, heaping further embarrassment on the game's nominal controlling body - nominal as the BCCI effectively calls the shots in cahoots with the Australian and English boards after a Big Three takeover of the running of the game last year.

Two-time champions Chennai's roster includes New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum and seamer Matt Henry and are coached by former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming. They are captained by India's test leader MS Dhoni and their leading players include South African Faf du Plessis, West Indian allrounder Dwayne Bravo and Indians Ravi Ashwin, Suresh Raina and Ravi Jadeja.

Fast-medium Tim Southee is on the Royals books, along with prominent Australian players Steve Smith, Shane Watson and James Faulkner. The Royals won the inaugural IPL in 2008.

There was no clear indication last night whether players at those franchises would be free to find work with other teams in the IPL.

Meiyappan and Kundra, a former Rajasthan co-owner, had been found guilty of illegal betting.

The three-member court-appointed committee headed by former chief justice Rajendra Lodha, said the pair had been found to have bet on IPL games, or of being in contact with illegal gamblers, ''bringing the game, BCCI and IPL into disrepute".

The panel's findings are binding and it said the suspension of the teams was to protect ''the integrity of the game".

According to IPL rules, a team can be suspended if its officials bring the tournament into disrepute.

''The argument that these acts were personal and the franchise cannot be responsible cannot be accepted," Justice Lodha said.

"Disrepute has been brought to cricket, the BCCI and the IPL to such an extent that there are doubts abound in the public whether the game is clean or not."

The Supreme Court committee was formed in January to decide on the scope of punishment following an inquiry by a separate committee that found the franchises and both officials guilty.

Meiyappan, who was detained for two weeks by Mumbai Police in 2013 over allegations of spot-fixing, was cleared by a BCCI-appointed panel, overseen by his father-in-law at the time. But a petition from the Cricket Association of Bihar led to the Bombay High Court declaring that panel ''illegal and unconstitutional."

Controversy swirled around the 2013 edition of the league with former Indian bowler S. Sreesanth and two other Royals players being arrested on suspicion of taking money to concede a fixed number of runs.

Sreesanth, who denied any wrongdoing, was subsequently banned for life by the Indian board.

The glitz and razzmatazz on match days has never hidden the suspicion of grubby activities behind the colourful front.

Crowds fill the stadiums, some of the T20 cricket is spectacular. It has been the highest profile domestic T20 league in the world. But now it's taken a mighty fall.

There will probably by companies keen to step into the gap left by Chennai and Rajasthan.

But the stench will be hard to wash away.