The KPL has been mired in controversy after seven people, including former Karnataka Ranji players CM Gautam and Abrar Kazi, were arrested.
The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has said that the ninth edition of Karnataka Premier League (KPL), which was hit by the multi-crore international match-fixing scam in September, will be announced only after the investigation in the matter is completed. The KSCA runs KPL — a Twenty20 cricket league like the Indian Premier League (IPL) — every year. The tournament, which concluded on August 31, was mired in controversy in September when police officials arrested the owner of Belagavi Panthers franchise Asfaq Ali over charges of match-fixing. It was alleged that players accepted money to fix matches in the league, including the final, in which two players have been accused of “slow batting”. Further investigation revealed a wide web of match-fixing in the Twenty20 cricket league, where players were allegedly blackmailed through honey-trapping tactics by bookies. “Finding sponsors for a tournament like KPL requires months of groundwork and preparation, all of which went into a tailspin following the police investigation,” said KSCA Treasurer Vinaya Mruthyunjaya, prompting the state association to declare, on Wednesday, that there will be no KPL until the probe is over. “When we decide the date, we will start looking for sponsors. No sponsor has committed to KPL for a long-term partnership, like two years, yet,” said Mruthyunjaya. When asked about the response of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which approves the Twenty20 cricket tournament, the association said that they have neither received any information nor communication from BCCI about the match-fixing scandal,” the treasurer said. Meanwhile, the Chief Executive of the state cricket association, Parthasarathi, is furnishing the information that the police demanded in the KPL betting scam probe. The investigation, led by Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police, Central Crime Branch, sought information on the participating teams, scorecards, video footage of all the matches and details of all the players, including their phone numbers. Mruthyunjaya also added that the state cricket association will not lose revenue owing to the uncertainty surrounding the conduct of the intra-state tournament, as KPL is more of an opportunity than a revenue-generating platform. “We are not looking at any revenue from KPL, but at creating opportunities for the cricketers. It is more of an opportunity for cricketers,” he said. KSCA is depending on the police investigation to unearth the many facets of the betting scam, although the state cricket association has an ethics officer and ombudsman, Justice (retired) KS Keshava Narayana, who is a former Karnataka High Court judge. The state cricket association's official website also invites suggestions and complaints from the public, listing the ombudsman's email address and informing about a dropbox kept at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The KSCA Treasurer had earlier claimed that neither the BCCI nor the state association had any inkling of the betting, honeytraps, bookie-funded foreign holidays and spot-fixing scandals, which have plagued the local T20 league. Bengaluru Commissioner Bhaskar Rao revealed that players were filmed during expensive trips abroad to Dubai and the Caribbean after they were 'honey-trapped'. The videos were used to blackmail them into fixing games. Earlier, the police issued a lookout circular against former Bellary Tuskers' owner Arvind Venkatesha Reddy, who is suspected to have fled overseas for his involvement in the KPL betting scam. Since the investigation began after Belagavi Panthers' owner Asfaq Ali Thara was arrested on September 25, six persons have been taken into custody — Bengaluru Blasters players Gautam, Kazi, Nishant Singh Shekawat and Vishwanathan, their bowling coach Vinu Prasad and Bellary Tuskers drummer Bhavesh Bafna. The police also arrested Haryana-based bookie Sayyam for his role in the KPL betting scam. CM Gautam and Abrar Kazi are former Karnataka Ranji players. Started in 2008, and functioning as a feeder tournament for the IPL, KPL has emerged as a leading local franchise-based league with BCCI's approval. KPL also provides a platform to tap the Karnataka hinterland cricket talent. As many as 16 KPL players have featured in the IPL. With IANS inputs
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