Fearing termination, RR distances from Kundra

June 8, 2013

KundraBangalore/New Delhi, Jun 8: Facing termination prospects, an embattled Rajasthan Royals distanced itself from?co-owner Raj Kundra, saying he has no role in the running of the franchise, and would be suspended if found guilty.

The Jaipur-based IPL franchise slipped into deep trouble after Kundra reportedly confessed to betting on his team before the Delhi Police on Thursday. According to IPL rule 11.3 (C), a franchise can be terminated if the owner or owners bring disrepute to the team or the league.

Royals, however, made it clear in a statement that Kundra had no involvement in the functioning of the team. Kundra would have to forfeit his shares in the franchise if he indeed breached any regulation.

“As a franchise, we have always been clear that the same rules apply to the players, management or the owners. As such, our actions will be consistent as in the case of the spot-fixing allegations with respect to our players,” said Rajasthan Royals chairman Ranjit Barthakur and CEO Raghu Iyer in a statement.

“Raj Kundra is a minority shareholder and he has no involvement in the running of the franchise. We believe that Kundra is a law-abiding citizen and would not act contrary to law.

“If however, he is proven guilty, or has breached any regulations, he will be suspended. He will also forfeit his shares. This is a strict governance procedure agreed to by all Rajasthan Royals shareholders and it is consistent with our zero tolerance approach,” the statement said.

Apart from Kundra, who holds 11.7 per cent shares in the franchise along with his wife Shilpa Shetty through Kuki Investment. Manoj Badale (Emerging Media, 32.4 per cent), Suresh Chellaram & family (44.2 per cent) and Lachlan Murdoch (Blue Water Estate Limited, 11.7 per cent) are the other shareholders.

The statement was issued after the Board of Control for Cricket in India convened an Emergent Working Committee meeting in Delhi on Monday to discuss issues related to the spot-fixing scandal, including the Kundra episode. The BCCI meeting will also discuss the report submitted by Ravi Sawani, chief of the

Board’s ACSU, on the fixing charges against three Royals players, S?Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan.

In another development, Kundra has hired noted criminal lawyer Majeed Memon to defend him. “I was called by the Delhi Police since I am a minority shareholder of Rajasthan Royals and a few questions were put to me to which I have satisfactorily answered,” Kundra said in a statement issued through Memon.

“I would like to reiterate that I am innocent and equally anxious to know as to what went wrong within Rajasthan Royals. In case anything is established against me, I shall be willing to forfeit my shares in Rajasthan Royals,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police have claimed that Shetty placed a bet of Rs 1 lakh during this IPL?season and they are planning to question Kundra again.

The police said Shetty placed a bet once during a match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils in the national capital. However, investigators have to verify the claims.

“Kundra will be questioned again very soon and if need be, Shetty too,” said a senior police officer.

The officer said Kundra, in his statement, claimed to have lost Rs 12.5 lakh in betting during this IPL season, Rs 40 lakh the previous year and Rs 50 lakh in 2011.

The officer, however, declined to “buy this argument.” “He had told us that he placed bets on matches played by Rajasthan Royals. In this season, his team won 11 out of the 16 matches it played and it is hard to believe that he lost money,” said a senior police officer.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan deeply regrets his "silly mistake" of not reporting a corrupt approach by an Indian bookie to the ICC, leading to his one year suspension from the game.

Shakib was banned for two years, one year of it suspended, for failing to report corrupt approaches during an IPL edition by an alleged Indian bookie named Deepak Aggarwal.

"I took the approaches too casually When I met the anti-corruption guy and told them and they knew everything. Gave them all the evidence and they knew everything that happened," Shakib told Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation'.

"To be honest, that's the only reason I was banned for a year, otherwise I'd have been banned for five or 10 years," he added on the ICC's investigation.

The 33-year-old, who was in brilliant form before the ban, amassing 606 runs in the 2019 World Cup in the UK, said he regrets how he went about the situation.

"But I think that was a silly mistake I made. Because with my experience and the amount of international matches I've played and the amount of ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct classes I took, I shouldn't have made that decision, to be honest."

Lesson learnt, Shakib's advice to all young criceters is to never take any such message lightly.

"I regret that. No one should take such messages or calls (from bookies) lightly or leave it away. We must inform the ICC ACSU guy to be on the safe side and that's the lesson I learnt, and I think I learnt a big lesson," he added.

The all-rounder, whose ban ends on October 29, said he became a bit arrogant and never felt he was doing anything wrong by not reporting the bookie's approach immediately.

"Because you do most things right in your life, you tend to get arrogant with some decisions. You may not realise but you're doing wrong by the books. It never came to my mind that I am doing something wrong

"It was just a feeling of 'okay, what's going to happen, leave it' and I continued with my life. But that's the mistake I made. And that happens," Shakib said.

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News Network
February 27,2020

Melbourne, Feb 27: Shafali Verma's 34-ball 46 followed by a superlative performance from the bowlers helped India notch up a narrow four-run win over New Zealand in a crucial group A match of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup on Thursday.

Invited to bat, India posted a below-par 133 for eight against New Zealand in the crucial group A match with Shafali top-scoring with a 34-ball 46 and Taniya Bhatia chipping in with a 25-ball 23.

India, however, produced a disciplined performance with the ball to restrict New Zealand to 129 for six and register their third successive win in the tournament.

With this win, India topped Group A, having beaten Australia and Bangladesh in their last two outing.

Defending the total, India introduced spin straight away but Deepti Sharma bled 12 runs with opener Rachel Priest (12) hitting her for two boundaries.

But experienced pacer Shikha Pandey removed Priest in the next over when she had her caught at mid wicket.

With Shikha and left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad bowling in tandem, New Zealand played with caution to reach 28 for one.

Back into the attack, Deepti then cleaned up Bates with a beauty of a delivery as New Zealand slipped to 30 for two.

Poonam Yadav and Radha Yadav then mounted the pressure on the Kiwis and soon the Black Caps were 34 for 3 when the former dismissed skipper Sophie Devine (14).

Maddy Green (24) and Katey Martin (25) then tried to resurrect the innings with a 36-ball 43-run stand.

However, Gayakwad returned to remove Green, who danced down the pitch only to end up with an outside edge as Bhatia did the rest.

Radha then dismissed Martin to leave New Zealand at 90 for 5 in 16.3 overs.

Needing 44 off 21 balls, Kerr (34) blasted four boundaries to accumulate 18 runs in the penultimate over bowled by Poonam to bring the equation down to 16 off six balls.

In the final over, Heyley Jensen (11) and Kerr cracked a four each but Shikha held her nerves in the end to complete the win.

Earlier, 16-year-old Shafali provided the fireworks as India scored 49 for one in the powerplay overs. But they lost six wickets for 43 runs to squander the good start.

Smriti Mandhana (11), who returned to the playing XI after missing the last match due to illness, departed early but Shafali and Taniya (23) kept the scoreboard ticking, adding 51 runs for the second wicket.

In the 10th over, Taniya was caught by Amelia Kerr at backward point, while Jemimah Rodrigues (10) was caught by Kerr in the 12th over as India slipped to 80 for 3.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's (1) poor form also continued as she was soon back to the hut after being caught and bowled by Leigh Kasperek.

Shafali, who was dropped at long-on in the 8th over and at mid-wicket in the 10th over, then holed out to Jensen at deep extra cover. She had four hits to the fence and three maximum shots in her innings.

Left-handed batter Deepti Sharma (8) and Veda Krishnamurthy (6) brought up the 100 in the 15th over but both departed soon as India slumped to 104 for 6.

Radha Yadav then blasted 14 off nine balls, which included a six in the final over, to give some respectability to the total.

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Agencies
June 9,2020

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has confirmed interim changes to its playing regulations, which include the ban on the use of saliva to shine the ball and allowing home umpires in international series as per a release issued by the international body.

The ICC Chief Executives' Committee (CEC) ratified recommendations from the Anil Kumble-led Cricket Committee, aimed at mitigating the risks posed by the COVID-19 virus and protect the safety of players and match officials when cricket resumes.

COVID-19 Replacements

Teams will be allowed to replace players displaying symptoms of COVID-19 during a Test match. In line with concussion replacements, the Match Referee will approve the nearest like-for-like replacement.

However, the regulation for COVID-19 replacements will not be applicable in ODIs and T20Is.

Ban on Saliva on Ball

Players will not be permitted to use saliva to shine the ball. If a player does apply saliva to the ball, the umpires will manage the situation with some leniency during an initial period of adjustment for the players, but subsequent instances will result in the team receiving a warning.

Whenever saliva is applied to the ball, the umpires will be instructed to clean the ball before play recommences.

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