New Delhi, Feb 13: Sanjiv Chawla, a key accused in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje in 2000, was extradited from the UK on Thursday, Delhi Police said.
The 50-year-old British national, accompanied by a crime branch team from London, reached IGI Airport this morning, a senior officer said.
He is likely to be taken to the crime branch office for questioning, he added.
New Delhi, Aug 6: The BCCI on Thursday suspended the IPL title sponsorship deal with Chinese mobile phone company Vivo for the event's upcoming edition amid heightened tensions in Sino-India diplomatic ties.
The BCCI sent out a one-line statement, without giving details, saying that Vivo would not be associated with the IPL this year. "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020," the statement said.
Meanwhile, Vivo released its own statement saying that the two entities "have mutually decided to pause their partnership for the 2020 season".
Vivo won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for a reported sum of Rs 2,190 crore, approximately Rs 440 crore per annum.
The two parties are now working out a plan in which Vivo might come back for a fresh three-year period starting 2021 on revised terms.
However, a top BCCI official offered a different view. "Here we are talking about diplomatic tensions and you expect that after November, when IPL ends and before the next IPL starts in April 2021, there would be no anti-China sentiment? Are we serious?" a veteran BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.
The anti-China sentiment in the country peaked after the violent face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh. India lost 20 soldiers in the clash, while China also acknowledged unspecified casualties.
The stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) caused outrage across India with several calls for boycotts of Chinese companies and products.
The BCCI is now likely to float a tender for new IPL title sponsors as mandated by its constitution. The glitzy T20 league starts on Sept. 19 in the UAE, forced out of India due to the rising COVID-19 cases.
The new development is in stark contrast to what came out of Sunday's IPL's Governing Council meeting, where it was decided that Vivo, along with all the other sponsors, will remain on board.
This was after the BCCI had announced in June that all sponsorship deals pertaining to IPL will be reviewed in the aftermath of the clash in the Galwan Valley.
However, after Sunday's meeting, there was a huge backlash on social media about the BCCI holding on to Vivo.
Both parties then began thrashing out an amicable separation plan, at least for this season.
However, the end of this deal could spell losses for the franchises as they get a substantial share from the sponsorship pool. Half of the annual Vivo sponsorship money is distributed equally among eight franchises, which comes to Rs 27.5 crore.
"As of now, it will be very difficult for the BCCI to match the sponsorship amount at such short notice. Therefore, both BCCI and the franchises should be prepared to lose out on some money -- BCCI more but each franchise from Vivo's exit will potentially lose 15 crore," the official said.
"This year will be difficult for everyone but the show must go on," the official said.
Silverstone, Aug 2: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on Sunday won his seventh British Grand Prix title after a dramatic last-lap at the Silverstone Circuit.
Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were at the first and second spot respectively until tyre drama struck.
Second-placed man Bottas was the first to suffer as his tyre deflated on lap 50, resulting in 11th place finish. Hamilton also suffered a similar issue before the final few seconds of the race.
However, with Max Verstappen having opted to pit a few laps from the end to try and claim the fastest lap, Hamilton had enough time in hand to just cross the line first, five seconds ahead of Verstappen and the third-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
McLaren's Carlos Sainz had been set to finish fourth, but his own last lap tyre issue saw him eventually come home P13, allowing Renault's Daniel Ricciardo to claim fourth, following a late pass on the sister McLaren of Lando Norris.
Renault's Esteban Ocon finished sixth, having enjoyed a race-long battle with Lance Stroll's Racing Point, with Pierre Gasly having enjoyed a fine race to finish seventh for AlphaTauri.
Alex Albon finished eighth for Red Bull, having recovered from a lap 1 tussle with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen that saw him fall to last, while Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10, Vettel holding off a late charge form the recovering Mercedes of Bottas.
New Delhi, Jun 24: Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has slammed UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for not allowing recreational cricket to resume.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had described the cricket ball as a 'natural vector of disease' and ruled out recreational cricket's return in the country.
Hearing Johnson's argument, Vaughan tweeted: "Hand sanitiser in every players pocket. Use every time you touch the ball ... SIMPLE ... Recreational Cricket should just play from July 4th ... utter nonsense it's not being allowed back ... #Cricket."
Johnson was responding to a question from Conservative MP Greg Clark in the House of Commons, and it was then that Johnson said that it is too soon to lift current restrictions to allow the return of recreational cricket.
"The problem with cricket as everybody understands is that the ball is a natural vector of disease, potentially at any rate. We've been around it many times with our scientific friends," ESPNCricinfo had quoted Johnson as saying.
"At the moment, we're still working on ways to make cricket more COVID-secure but we can't change the guidance yet," he added.
Johnson had announced various relaxations on Tuesday, but the return of recreational cricket was not a part of them.
However, this statement given by Johnson will have no impact on the Test series between England and West Indies, scheduled to begin from July 8.
However, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has said that it is looking to resume recreational cricket in the country around July 4.
The board has also said that cricket is a low-risk sport as it is a non-contact sport.
"We believe that cricket is a non-contact sport, with very low risks of exposure, and that it can be played as safely as many other activities being currently permitted," the ECB said in an official statement.
"It is our strong desire to work with Government to see the return of recreational cricket on or around 4th July, as they continue to lift other restrictions more broadly across society," it added.
All international cricket has also been suspended since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, it is set to resume to from July 8 as England and West Indies will lock horns in the three-Test series.
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