Approaches to players in not from bookies but fans, says Sunil Gavaskar
Former Interim BCCI President Sunil Gavaskar has said that this season’s IPL has been clean. The two approaches that were reported by players were not found to be true after investigation. It is now understood that the approaches were not serious in nature.
The Anti-Corruption and Security Unit of the ICC had been monitoring the IPL and they have concluded that the approaches were hardly dangerous. It is worth noting that last year’s IPL was clouded with controversy as three Rajasthan Royals players were found indulged in spot fixing.
Gavaskar said, “What happened is that the anticorruption guys checked the approaches out and found that one was for dinner and the other for being a friend on Facebook - from ordinary fans and not bookies.”
He also blamed the media for creating hype around the story. He believes that the approaches were sensationalized in some way, adding, “While talking about how an integrity officer with each team was turning out to be beneficial, I mentioned that there had been two approaches reported by players. The media jumped and reported that bookies had approached them. It was a clean IPL with fabulous cricket.”
After a thorough probe, it has been determined that no bookies were involved, which will be a major relief to fans and cricketers alike.