People's faith in cricket shaken: Survey

New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) The people’s trust has been badly hit by IPL spot fixing scam and subsequent controversies with 90 percent of those surveyed in a CNN-IBN poll stating that their faith has been shaken in Indian cricket.

According to a press release, the arrest of three Rajasthan Royals players for alleged involvement in the IPL spot-fixing has seriously affected the credibility of Indian cricket.

“Ninety percent say spot fixing, betting and the BCCI mess has shaken their faith in Indian cricket,” the release said.

The poll showed that 38 percent of respondents find the arrest of the players to be the sole factor that has shaken their faith in Indian cricket.

The arrest of Chennai Super Kings CEO Gurunath Meiyappan, who is son-in-law of BCCI president N. Srinivasan, is another factor that has hit the credibility of cricket with 22 percent of respondents stating that their faith had been shaken following the development.

The poll showed that image of Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) has been seriously damaged as 56 percent of the respondents have lost faith in the highest cricketing body in the country.

It said that 42 percent of the respondents feel the BCCI has always behaved like a bully and another 47 percent feel the BCCI treats its fans with contempt and disrespect.

The release said CNN-IBN Exclusive Nationwide Cricket poll was carried out to garner the opinions of citizens following the spot fixing controversy and betting arrests that led to questions about the present state of Indian cricket and the credibility of BCCI.

The opinion poll was conducted by GFK Mode to get a representative view of citizens across the nation.

The release said the opinion poll was conducted through a close ended questionnaire across the six cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. A total of 1,226 respondents who were 18 years and above were interviewed May 31, 2013.