IPL: 2 year suspension of CSK and RR

 A very strong decision came out yesterday when CSK and RR, two teams from IPL were suspended for 2 years. This all happened thanks to the owners of these two teams Mayappan of CSK and Raj Kundra of RR. While being an owner of a team, these two people were involved in betting to make some extra cash. It is really saddening to see IPL going down the drain with every new year.

Personally, I really liked the concept of IPL. I followed it, I favored it, I supported it. I founf IPL as a place where new upcoming players will get a chance to showcase their talents, where oldies after retirement will get one last chance to try their hands on bat and ball, where some of the talented players who never got a chance to appear in India XI can make some money before hanging their boots and dreams of playing for the country.

This was the concept which made me support it. The way IPL started was also awesome. But slowly some where things started going wrong right from the second year. Biggest controversy at that time was the treatment given to Dada ( Saurav Ganguly). It was shocking to see the treatment given to him. At the same time, another legend VVS Laxman was also experiencing similar ignorance from his team.

Slowly, things started getting dirtier. More and more of senior players were ignored. Even Rahul Dravid had to change his team. But he proved himself by making RR one of the most consistent side in IPL.

And then this idea of fixing started entering minds of few people. Some where it was said that few matches were fixed, but it did not get proved. Instead, there were some instances of spot fixing which were proved and some of the players were involved in this scam. One of the biggest names was Shrisanth. It was really shocking to see him involved in this fixing.

But the story was only half told till this point. When more pages were turned, bigger names started coming out. And out of some of these pages, appeared the names of Mayappan and Raj Kundra.

Now that their involvement has been proved beyond doubt, its their team which is going feel the heat. There are many players from CSK and RR who do not know, how can they be part of IPL any more. It is no big issue for a player like Dhoni or Ashwin. They are big names and have relatively easier path to walk. But some upcoming players like Samson or Binny or for that matter Rahane who were doing good with in the working culture of RR (groomed by Dravid). But, they will find it difficult to get a place in other team. Their way of playing may not be appreciated by other teams. Just like Pujara, who other wise is a fantastic player but has no place in IPL ( instead he was playing in County cricket during that season), these players may also end up staying away from IPL. The way Praveen Tambe at the age of 42 could make an entry playing for RR and leave a mark in IPL, I do not think other teams would have tried him at all.

All such things will come to an end because of suspension of two teams. By the time they will be allowed to play, many such talents would have lost their chance to prove themselves.