Dubai: The ICC on Sunday assured "full support" and welcomed the steps announced by the BCCI to deal with the spot-fixing issue that has rocked the Indian Premier League following the arrest of three cricketers including pacer S Sreesanth.

"The ICC offers its full support to the BCCI`s in its efforts to quickly complete the enquiry against the accused players," ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said in a statement.

The IPL last week found itself engulfed in a sensational spot-fixing scandal after Indian paceman S Sreesanth and two of his Rajasthan Royals teammates were arrested by the police which claimed that they received upto Rs 60 lakh from bookies for bowling one manipulated over.

"The ICC also notes and welcomes the additional steps taken by the BCCI for the deployment of an anti-corruption official to accompany the teams and the accrediting of all player agents," Richardson added.

A special cell of the Delhi police arrested Sreesanth and his teammates -- Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan -- in Mumbai last Thursday for indulging in spot-fixing in at least three IPL matches as per arrangements with bookies, who have underworld connections abroad.

And Richardson further added, "The BCCI has requested the ICC to provide recommendations for the further strengthening of its anti-corruption protocols for the IPL. We will be submitting our proposals as soon as possible."

Addressing a press conference after an emergent meeting of the Board`s Working Committee, BCCI President N Srinivasan today promised to take strongest possible action against the players if they are found guilty.

The BCCI appointed its anti-corruption chief Ravi Sawani as the commissioner of inquiry and has told him to file his report "as soon as possible".

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'I'm definitely feeling much better but I know I've still got a long way to go' - Zaheer Khan


Zaheer Khan, the India fast bowler, has said he is eager to reclaim his spot in the Indian team and that he will utilise the time after the IPL to work on his fitness and form. Zaheer was out of action for four-and-a-half months before playing two matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier this week.

"I'm definitely feeling much better but I know I've still got a long way to go," Zaheer told the IPL website. "Post IPL I have to put in some serious work into my fitness and form to reclaim my place in the Indian team. That's what's on my mind right now - I want to use that period after the IPL to get stronger, fitter and improve in all the areas."

India will play the Champions Trophy after the IPL but Zaheer was not included in the squad of 15 for the tournament. Before the IPL, he last played for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy last December in a league game against Gujarat but sustained a calf injury which forced him out of the knockout stages and the Irani Cup.

"I was itching to get back on the field but I always take my time to come back whenever I am injured," Zaheer said. "This time too, I could have played a couple of matches earlier but it's always good to be a game late than coming back too early. That was the thinking between the trainer, physio and me."

On grounds of form and fitness, he had been dropped during the home Test series against England late last year and for the ODIs against Pakistan.

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New Delhi: Indian Premier League chief Rajiv Shukla has said that the BCCI will take immediate action against the tainted cricketers arrested in the spot-fixing scandal as soon as the Delhi Police conclude their investigation.

“The sooner we get the Delhi Police report we’ll immediate action. Without the report, the ban won’t stand. The players cannot participate in any of our events. Their fate will be decided post the police report,” IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla told reporters on Sunday.

Earlier, in a press conference in Chennai, BCCI president N Srinivasan reiterated that the board will go by the findings of its internal probe it has ordered in the IPL spot-fixing case

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Chennai: Addressing a press conference in Chennai, after the completion of BCCI’s working committee meeting, president N Srinivasan said that although players can be controlled to a certain extent the bookies are beyond their control.

“We are handicapped when it comes to controlling bookies,” Srinivasan said.

He said that players have been educated and briefed in great detail by the ACSU of the ICC and the BCCI and all measures possible have been put in place to keep the players away from such activities.

"Everybody is innocent till proven guilty. The BCCI will not cover up for anybody but our actions must be fair. We will go through the process. If somebody is found guilty, we will act sternly," he said.

He mentioned that Ravi Sawani has been appointed Commissioner to enquire against these players. He also added that he has requested the Commissioner of the Delhi Police to provide all information that the Board may require and also promised all possible assistance to the police.

Responding to a question about the BCCI and the IPL being under constant criticism ever since the spot-fixing controversy surfaced, he replied that the involvement of a few players in unethical and illegal activities does not mean that the entire IPL is bad. He cited a huge crowd presence, in the matches that followed the controversy, as a vindication of the BCCI’s stand.

“For the last three-four days, BCCI-bashing and IPL-bashing has taken place as if the whole world has fallen down. Only three players have allegedly done something. It doesn`t mean the whole IPL is bad. We are very grateful to the public that has sold out grounds despite the news.”

Srinivasan added that henceforth all player agents will have to be accredited by the BCCI and that all franchises will have anti-corruption unit officials.

He added that a decision on banning the players will only be taken after the enquiry report is out.

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New Delhi: Indian Premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals will file FIR against the three arrested players for cheating the public.

S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan have been arrested for spot-fixing.

Sreesanth, considered to be one of the most colourful cricketer in the Indian cricket team, has confessed to him crime. Mumbai police Saturday also seized Sreesanth`s laptop, i-pad, phones, cash and diaries after they raided a hotel where the cricketer was staying for sometime.

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New Delhi: In a bid to crack down on IPL spot-fixing, the Delhi police on Saturday conducted raids at the Faridabad residence of Ajit Chandila for a second time establishing the Rajasthan Royals player’s key role in the syndicate.

The police seized some ‘documents, money and other gadgets from his house’. It also refuted rumours about the players being under threat from the underworld, saying, “All of them indulged in this act willingly for money.”

Expensive gifts, including watches, costly garments and random credit card shopping was also done to lure players, it added. “Cricketer-turned-bookie Amit Singh gifted Chandila two expensive watches, while Chandila himself bought two costly denim pants worth Rs 2.5 lakh,” an investigating official revealed. “Chandila used to send money to his Faridabad house through different people,” he added.

The police also contacted a hotel in Chandigarh, where Chandila and a bookie met on May 9, to get CCTV footages to further crack the case.

Police officials claimed that S Sreesanth never talked to any bookie over the phone to strike the deal but his close friend Jiju Janardhan did all the talking on his behalf. “Sreesanth used Jiju’s phone to make calls but he has never conversed with any bookie,” said an official.

Investigators said they do not feel the need to conduct searches at the residences of Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan as they have enough proof against them.

Television footages of three matches in question from the official broadcaster Set Max channel have also been sought by the police to get an idea of ‘what the arrested players were doing during the commercial breaks’. Several police teams have camped in Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Hyderabad to trace the money trail in the spot-fixing case.

The Delhi police has also shared information with the Board of Control for Cricket in India twice and is ready to talk to International Cricket Council officials, if they seek any information regarding the case.

Interestingly, special cell officials investigating the case, including inspector Badrish Dutt who was found dead in Gurgaon along with his woman acquaintance earlier this month, also attended and monitored several parties, where bookies struck deals or tried to make contacts with cricketers.

Meanwhile, the police said that it would soon send the voice samples to the forensic department to certify the evidence and also seek further custody of the accused on Monday if needed.

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Sydney: Former Australian captain Ian Chappell has said that the Australian Twenty20 tournament, the Big Bash League (BBL) needs to carefully vet their overseas contracted players in order to avoid importing corruption.

Chappell`s comments came following the spot-fixing controversy enveloping the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), in which three Indian cricketers of the Rajasthan Royals franchise, including Test paceman S.Sreesanth, were charged with the crime.

According to News.com.au, Chappell said that the consequences for the BBL is uncertain after the spot-fixing scandal, adding that although the controversy was not unexpected, it was unwelcome because even if India may be able to withstand few more such blows but not Australia or rest of the world.

According to Chappell, although the average Indian fan has long been sceptical about the integrity of the game and will not be much alarmed at the controversy, however, Australia has a much smaller and less forgiving population and cannot afford to be complacent.

Fearing that game may have to endure many more corruption scandals before suffering irreversible damage, Chappell said that although he was not shocked by the IPL spot fixing news, he was surprised that it happened under the able watch of Royals captain Rahul Dravid, who enjoys widespread respect for his integrity and achievements.

Stating that the fact that players under Dravid`s captaincy indulging in alleged spot fixing highlights the magnitude of the problem cricket is facing, Chappell said that despite a number of arrests and convictions, cricket has had little success in bringing to book any of the culprits.

The cricket legend further said that he believes that the game needs a cricket solution to corruption along with a legal one, adding that if cricket relies solely on proving the guilt of these miscreants in a court of law the problem will never be eradicated and eventually the game will lose all credibility.

Chappell also said that India should not be left alone to face the crime as this is an international cricket problem and requires input and vigilance from all nations, including Australia, to eradicate corruption.

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Mumbai: Two-time world professional billiards champion Pankaj Advani squandered a 5-3 lead to go down 9-10 to world No 21 Stephen Lee of England in a pulsating final of the Rs 22-lakh prize money RKG-Khar Gymkhana Snooker tournament here on Saturday.

Advani took the first four frames to rock his more fancied foreign rival and then grabbed a 5-3 lead at the end of the first session of play in the morning.

A superb break of 137 unfinished, the only century sequence of the summit contest, was the Indian`s best effort in this phase.

But Lee came back into his own in the afternoon session to pocket the first five frames and lead 8-5 and then staved off a brilliant fightback from the Indian, when Advani led 9-8, by pocketing the last two frames to emerge triumphant.

Lee pocketed the winner`s prize money of Rs 5 lakh while Advani had to be satisfied with half of that as his share of the pool.

Results (Breaks in brackets): S Lee beat P Advani 10-9: 6-62(43), 0-72(72), 0-137(137 unf.), 58-68(50), 74(40)-47(47), 97(76)-0, 56-19, 0-75(75), 72(59)-10, 81-39, 65(51)30, 62-41(40), 73(72)-39(39), 41(41)-60, 1-92(75), 64-66(44), 1-79(54), 78(52)-25, 62-51.

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Stavanger (Norway): World champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Hao Wang of China for the second time this year to sign off joint fourth in the Norway Chess 2013 super tournament that concluded here.

In with a chance to finish first in a major tournament, Anand could not control the proceedings and was on the defensive early against Hao Wang who seems to be in great touch against stalwarts in the past few months.

Meanwhile, Sergey Karjakin of Russian emerged as the sole winner of the tournament and all the speculation was put to rest after he drew a hugely advantageous position against Bulgarian Veselin Topalov.

Karjakin ended the tournament on six points in all and his success is attributed to the fact that he started with four wins in a row here.

World number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway was the other player in with a chance to catch up with Karjakin but his game as black against Armenian Levon Aronian was a tame affair ending in draw early in the day.

With Karjakin finishing first, Carlsen`s draw fetched him a joint second place alongside Hikaru Nakamura of United States who scored a regulation victory over lowest ranked Jon Ludvig Hammer of Norway to match Carlsen on 5.5 points.

Anand tied for the fourth spot with Peter Svidler of Russia and Aronian on five points and the biggest point to take home ahead of the next World Championship match against Carlsen will be the vulnerability of the Norwegian in difficult circumstances.

It turned out to be a bad day for Anand as he looked for complications almost out of nothing. The middle game arising out of a symmetrical English promises little for the black player and Anand`s attempts for a risky continuation were dealt with precision by the Chinese star.

Anand lost his queen for two minor pieces and had no chance thereafter.

Karjakin was seen trying for a victory but was under pressure against Topalov who miscalculated and found himself in a worse situation. By then Carlsen had long finished his game so a draw was enough to give the Russian another major title.

Hao Wang turned out to be the tormentor of the tournament beating both Anand and Carlsen in last two rounds. The Chinese has every reason to feel proud as the two will contest for the World Championship crown later this year at Chennai.

Results final round: Hao Wang (Chn, 4.5) beat V Anand (Ind, 5); Levon Aronian (Arm, 5) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 5.5); Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 6) drew with Veselin Topalov (Bul, 4); Jon Ludvig Hammer (Nor, 1.5) lost to Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 5.5); Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 3) drew with Petger Svidler (Rus, 5).

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Sydney: Australian Test batsman David Warner may reportedly lose his place in the squad for the prestigious Ashes tour following his Twitter outburst.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Warner may now have to face a Cricket Australia code of behaviour hearing to explain why he should still be allowed on the upcoming Ashes series.

Warner launched a blistering attack against two of the Australian media`s longest-serving cricket writers, Robert Craddock and Malcolm Conn, after he took exception to a piece by Craddock about corruption in the Indian Premier League, the paper further said.

The report further said that the IPL is reeling under by allegations of spot fixing by three players, including Indian Test paceman S.Sreesanth.

According to the report, among several other colourful tweets, Warner wrote to Conn: "@malcolmconn keep writing paper talk trash for a living champ only thing you will ever do" and "@malcolmconn are you still talking you old fart, no wonder know [sic] one buys your paper".

Among Conn`s responses was: "@davidwarner31 You lose 4-0 in India, don`t make a run, and you want to be tickled on the tummy? Win the Ashes and get back to me" and "It`s becoming increasingly obvious why Brad Haddin was brought back as vice captain. Your [sic] lengths behind in that race", the report added

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