Mahendra Singh Dhoni, despite being a cricket star like no other, was never entirely a cricket story. He was, still is and will always remain a social story.
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the suspended chief of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Narayanaswami Srinivasan, "who really owns" Indian Premier League franchise Chennai Super Kings. It also expressed his displeasure over India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni holding important position in Srinivasan's India Cements, saying the "dual role is a matter of concern."
The crucial meeting will mark N Srinivasan's return as BCCI president after nearly two months since stepping aside pending an internal inquiry into the spot-fixing episode that rocked the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League.
Board of Control for Cricket in India vice-president Niranjan Shah called for a fresh probe into the IPL spot-fixing scandal, saying it is needed, as the Board's 'image has really gone down'.
A defiant Board of Control for Cricket in India president N Srinivasan insists he will attend the Working Committee meeting in Delhi on August 2 despite the Bombay high court ruling that the constitution of the spot-fixing probe panel, which gave his franchise Chennai Super Kings a clean chit, was "illegal and unconstitutional".
The itinerary for the upcoming tour of South Africa and a disciplinary panel report on sacked IPL chief Lalit Modi are among the issues that would dominate discussions when the BCCI's working committee meets in Kolkata on Sunday.
The Justice Mudgal committee appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate into charges of betting and spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League last year will not be travelling to England to investigate current Indian players as part of their probe, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said on Wednesday.
State associations have received a letter from BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur instructing all office-bearers to declare their business interests and sign the undertaking.
Aditya Verma, the petitioner in the IPL spot-fixing scandal, hailed the verdict, stating that the ball is now in the BCCI's court and cleaning up the mess can start with BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur urging former BCCI president Srinivasan to withdraw his representation from the ICC.
Former Board of Control for Cricket in India president Shashank Manohar was "disillusioned" with the proceedings of the Board's Emergent Working Committee meeting, which he had attended as a representative of the Vidarbha Cricket Association.
Stung by revelations of a player being approached for spot-fixing, IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said on Friday that stringent measures will be put in place to ensure that the mega-event passes off corruption-free.
Describing the Indian Premier League betting and spot-fixing scandal as an old story, Kolkata Knight Riders CEO and Managing Director Venky Mysore says everything is on track as far as his franchise is concerned.
Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said that he does not expect the speculation around his name to stop anytime soon despite nothing concrete coming up against him.
Former IPL chairperson Lalit Modi was his usual outspoken self when he said it will be 'doomsday' for the Indian cricket if N Srinivasan gets re-elected as BCCI president at the Board's AGM on September 29.
Indian cricket's new saviours can learn from the past and do what millions of cricket fans want: convert Indian cricket into a force of good governance and high global standards, IS Bindra writes in blog
BCCI sources said that a similar decision in the case of another IPL team Kochi Tuskers Kerala a few years ago, at the insistence of former president Shashank Manohar, had backfired with an arbitration award favouring a payout of Rs 550 crore for the disbanded Kerala franchise on grounds of wrongful termination.
Board of Control for Cricket in India president N Srinivasan, who had cataract surgery on Wednesday, continues to remain silent on the Supreme Court observation that he should step down to facilitate a fair probe into IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal.
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, N Srinivasan, his company India Cements which owns IPL team Chennai Super Kings, and Rajasthan Royals on a plea challenging Bombay high court order refusing to appoint a fresh committee to probe the spot-fixing scam in the sixth edition of the IPL.
Asked if Ganguly would be cornered at the meeting, he laughed and cited an example.
Having gone through a testing time as captain of Rajasthan Royals when the spot-fixing scandal broke two seasons ago, team mentor Rahul Dravid called for stricter laws, even criminal, to be put in place by the country's lawmakers to deal with this issue in IPL.
N Srinivasan was "quite happy" after the Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed him to resume his duties as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. 'I think the Supreme Court has said I can resume functioning and discharge my functions. So I am quite happy because BCCI needs somebody,' Srinivasan told reporters after the ruling.
N Srinivasan's defiant bid for an extended term as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India has hit a massive roadblock after the Supreme Court ruled that he cannot take charge even if he is elected at Sunday's Annual General Meeting.
The fate of Indian Premier League teams -- Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals -- will be known on Tuesday when the Supreme Court-appointed high-level Committee headed by former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha will pronounce the quantum of punishment against their franchisees and their team officials Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra for betting during the sixth edition of the T20 tournament in 2013.
'2013 was the most difficult phase in my life, I was never depressed as much as I was then'
Fearing legal trouble after the Bombay high court declared its IPL spot-fixing probe "illegal and unconstitutional", the under-fire Board decided to call off its Working Committee meeting in New Delhi on Friday.
Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were suspended from the Indian Premier League for two years for betting activities of their key officials, Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra, during the 2013 season of cash-rich Twenty20 cricket tournament.
India pacer Shantakumaran Sreesanth and his Rajasthan Royals team mate Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were on Sunday cleared of charges by a Delhi court in the spot-fixing and betting scandal in the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League in 2013. A flashback of the events that unfolded in the episode.
Former cricketer turned MP Kirti Azad tells Rediff.com's Manu Shankar that Srinivasan is equally responsible for the mess, even if he not involved.
The Supreme Court-instituted three-member committee probing the Indian Premier League spot-fixing scandal will speak with banned pacer Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra and others, including commentator Harsha Bhogle, when it meets for three days in Mumbai, from November 16.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Friday made it clear that it is upto N Srinivasan to take a call on whether he would like to attend the working committee meeting in Kolkata.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the Board of Control for Cricket in India should conduct a probe against Narayanaswami Srinivasan and 12 others in the betting and spot-fixing scandal to maintain its institutional autonomy, as it cannot "close its eyes" to the allegations made by the Justice Mukul Mudgal committee. The apex court also allowed Sundar Raman to continue as Chief Operating Officer of the seventh edition of Indian Premier League.
The Supreme Court suggested that Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals must be barred from the Indian Premier League, it was reported on Thursday. The Apex Court further proposed that Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar must be made BCCI president and take over from N Srinivasan.
N Srinivasan was on Friday restrained from assuming charge of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, if elected to the post, by the Supreme Court, which allowed the Board to hold its proposed Annual General Meeting scheduled for Sunday.
N Srinivasan refuses to confirm whether he is back in office as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said maintaining the "purity" of cricket is of utmost importance for it while hinting at setting up a high-powered committee to suggest measures to cleanse the game in the country, hit by allegations of betting and spot-fixing and ascertain if there is conflict of interest involving the Board of Control for Cricket in Inida's president-in-exile, Narayanaswami Srinivasan.
The BCCI has welcomed the Supreme Court's decision not to suspend the Chennai Super Kings and Rajesthan Royals from the IPL and said the order to make Sunil Gavaskar interim president was "acceptable" to the Board.
Stung by the suspension of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals from the Indian Premier League, the Board of Control for Cricket in India's top officials are working out a contingency plan to ensure that the high-profile league remains an eight-team affair.
The most consistent team across all seasons of the IPL, Chennai Super Kings would look to put behind the off-field distractions and do what they are best at when they take on previous edition's bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils in their opening match of the Twenty20 league.
A First Information Report was registered at Jyotinagar police station, in Jaipur, on Friday, to investigate allegations of match-fixing by Board of Control for Cricket in India president and Managing Director of India Cements Ltd N Srinivasan, and his son-in-law, Chennai Super Kings team principal Gurunath Meiyappan, for conspiring and executing the fixing of an Indian Premier League match on May 12, between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Man Singh stadium in Jaipur.
In its quest to paint a rosy picture on the health of Indian cricket, Board of Control for Cricket in India president N Srinivasan and former treasurer Ravi Savant's note in the Board's Annual Report doesn't have a single mention of the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League.