The IPL has grown over the years not only in terms of the number of teams, players, popularity and money, but also controversies
Abhishek Chakraborty
The sixth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) opened with much fanfare and style at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. Bollywood stars?Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone?and international rapper Pitbull entertained the crowds at the extraordinary evening which saw sportstars, filmstars and celebrities gracing the occasion. The evening showcased how the IPL has grown over the years in terms of the number of teams, players, popularity and, of course, money. However, what?s also grown over the years is the number of controversies surrounding the IPL.
Season one
The inaugural season of the IPL saw clashes between the England Cricket Board and the BCCI as the season coincided with the County Championship season as well as New Zealand?s tour of England. The ECB made it abundantly clear that they would not sign ?no objection certificates? for players?a pre-requisite for playing in the IPL. As a result, Dimitri Mascarenhas was the only English player to have signed for the IPL in the first season. This was not enough. In the match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kings XI Punjab on April 25, 2008, MI?s off-spinner Harbhajan Singh slapped Punjab?s S Sreesanth on the field. Sreesanth was seen weeping in front of the crowds. The media appropriately termed the incident ?slapgate?.
Season Two
The second season in 2009 saw IPL matches coinciding with the general elections in India. Concerns were raised that the tournament was the prime target of terrorists and as the matches coincided with the general elections, the Government of India refused to commit security by Indian paramilitary forces. As a result, the BCCI decided to host it in South Africa.
Relocating the tournament posed extreme logistical challenges for the BCCI since more than 10,000 cricketers and other staff members needed to be flown from India to South Africa.
Season Three
The third season in 2010 got even bigger on controversies. The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI ) suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi for ?alleged acts of individual misdemeanours?. Modi was officially barred from participating in the affairs of the board, the IPL and any other committees of the BCCI. It even accused Modi, saying he had ?brought a bad name to the administration of cricket?. So the ?mastermind? behind the richest Twenty20 tournament in the world was out of the league and without any involvement in Indian cricket.
Season Four
The fourth season of the IPL, 2011, saw the termination of the franchise of Kochi Tuskers Kerala. The BCCI terminated it for breaching its terms of agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, each franchise has to submit a bank guarantee every year that covers the fee payable to the BCCI. The 2010-founded team was bought for R15.50 billion and the consortium had to pay a bank guarantee of R1.56 billion every year till 2020. The consortium that owns Kochi is reported to have defaulted on an annual payment of R1.56 billion as bank guarantee. So instead of 10 teams, earlier scheduled to play for that season, only nine were seen competing.
Season Five
The fifth season in 2012 saw an Indian news channel airing a sting operation accusing five players of involvement in spot fixing. IPL president Rajiv Shukla immediately suspended the five uncapped players. Then following the win of Kolkata Knight Riders in the finals, co-owner Shah Rukh Khan got involved in a skirmish with the security and officials of the Mumbai Cricket Association. Khan, however, denied he had misbehaved and acted only after children, including his own, were ?manhandled? by the security staff. The Mumbai Cricket Association banned the KKR co-owner from entering the Wankhede Stadium for five years.
Season Six
The ongoing sixth season has already got mired in controversies. In a match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders, Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir got into an unnecessary spat after Kohli?s dismissal. The incident happened off the first delivery of the 10th over bowled by Lakshmipathy Balaji. Kohli went for a wild slash but was caught in the sweeper cover region. As Gambhir and other players walked towards the cover region to celebrate the dismissal, Kohli instead of trudging back to the pavilion walked towards short extra cover and apparently made a remark. Suddenly, Gambhir was seen walking angrily towards his junior teammate, both of whom play for Team India. Following the incident, S Sreesanth suddenly reopened the 2008 ?slapgate? chapter by posting 44 tweets within two hours alleging that Harbhajan Singh had planned the assault on him.
To Conclude
Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth may be teammates playing for Team India, but when it comes to the IPL, they seem like individuals playing for different states against each other. Is it the money which comes with the game that pits these players against each other or the pressure to perform is the moot question.
