Court says Srinivasan guilty of conflict of interest

(Agencies) NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court ordered Thursday world cricket chief Narayanaswami Srinivasan to give up his stake in the Indian Premier League if he wanted to be re-elected head of the country’s powerful board.

The court found Srinivasan guilty of a conflict of interest for having commercial dealings in the sport while head of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) by owning an Indian Premier League franchise.

“Srinivasan or any other administrator can’t contest elections (to the BCCI) (while) they have those interests,” the two-judge bench was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

The court was ruling on the findings of a panel it appointed last year to investigate betting and other scandals in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL).

Srinivasan, 70, is managing director of India Cements which owns the Chennai Super Kings franchise captained by India skipper Mahendra Dhoni.

Although the court on Thursday absolved Srinivasan of any specific wrongdoing, it struck down an IPL rule which allowed BCCI members to own a team in the popular Twenty20 tournament.

Srinivasan, appointed International Cricket Council chief last year, has not yet commented on whether he will run for the BCCI president’s post at elections in six weeks time for a second term or give up his stake in the Chennai Super Kings.

The court had barred Srinivasan from carrying out his duties as BCCI president, a post he held since 2011, until it delivered its final verdict.

The court also appointed Thursday a panel headed by a former chief justice of India to recommend changes to BCCI rules to avoid any future conflict of interest by its members.

The court agreed with the Mudgal panel that Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan took part in illegal betting while a team official of the Chennai Super Kings, as did Raj Kundra, owner of the Rajasthan Royals.

The sixth IPL season last year was mired in controversy after police launched legal proceedings against several officials and cricketers, including former Test fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, for illegal betting and spot-fixing.

International news organisations including Agence France-Presse have suspended on-field coverage of matches hosted by the BCCI since 2012 after the board imposed restrictions on picture agencies.

MS Dhoni Retires From TEST cricket

" Dhoni the Legend  "

 Melbourne: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has retired from test cricket "citing the strain of playing all formats," and Virat Kohli will lead the team in the fourth test against Australia in Sydney, the country's cricket board said on Tuesday.

The shock announcement came minutes after Dhoni faced reporters in the wake of India's draw in the third test against Australia in Melbourne, which conceded the four-match series 2-0 to the hosts.

Dhoni said nothing of his retirement plans during the post-match media conference at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the news was broken on the Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI's twitter feed.
His stewardship is likely to be hotly debated for months and years to come, having taken India's test team to the world number one ranking for a brief period, but also leading a team that would invariably fail to perform away from home soil.
 "One of India's greatest Test captains under whose leadership India became the No. 1 team in the test rankings, MS Dhoni, has decided to retire from Test cricket citing the strain of playing all formats of cricket," the board said. "BCCI, while respecting the decision of MS Dhoni to retire from Test cricket, wishes to thank him for his enormous contribution to Test cricket and the laurels that he has brought to India. Virat Kohli will be the captain of the Indian team for the fourth and final Test against Australia to be played in Sydney."

Won't allow Yuvraj to play any IPL match :(

Pune team owner Subrata Roy says that even though the team misses Yuvraj terribly, he wants the cricketer to be a spectator and not a player until he's fit again.
Yuvraj Singh returned to the country on Monday afternoon, after a long stint abroad. He was in the US for his cancer treatment, after which he spent some time in London.
The IPL season is currently on, and though his Pune team is faring well, they are missing his presence among them. Even though he isn't playing any matches this season, team owner Subrata Roy has decided that the batsman will be paid his full fee of 1.8 million (more than Rs 9 crore). 

The first installment of the amount will be paid this week.
Roy told us, "I have known Yuvraj for a long time. My relationship with the cricketer has always been a warm one. Yuvi is a very simple man, who is in tune with the team. Though we won our last two matches, the team and my family miss him a lot. I have been in touch with him even when he was in London and USA for his treatment and I know he came back to Delhi yesterday. We are all missing him so much. In fact, just yesterday, Sourav (Ganguly) was telling me that had Yuvraj been in the team this time, it would have been so great!"

But Roy is very clear that he doesn't want Yuvi to join the team again for now. He says, "I would love to have Yuvi as a spectator for our matches - but not as a player! As a guardian and an elder, I will not allow him to play, as it is not good for his health. Yuvi had conveyed to me after his operation that he wanted to play during this IPL but I said no, he has to recover completely first."

Pictures of Yuvraj When he Come back in India

Yuvraj back in India after completion of cancer treatment

Yuvraj Singh, the India allrounder, is back in the country after two and a half months in the USA, where he had received treatment for cancer. Yuvraj arrived in Delhi on Monday morning, and was received by his mother and several fans.

Yuvraj was diagnosed with a type of cancer called "mediastinal seminoma", a germ-cell tumour located between his two lungs, in February. He underwent three sessions of chemotherapy in Indianapolis, at the IU Simon Cancer Centre at the Indiana University Medical Centre, under Lawrence H Einhorn, who headed the treatment of cycling champion Lance Armstrong in 1996. He finished the last cycle of chemo in mid-march, and his response it had left his medical team "fairly confident" that he would not suffer a relapse. He had spent a few days in London while recuperating from the side effects of the treatment.

He arrived on a Jet Airways flight, sporting a red sports cap - he has suffered hair loss, a common side effect of chemo - and flashing a victory sign to the waiting crowds. A friend who was with Yuvraj in London said the cancer is "completely out of his system", PTI reported. Yuvraj had tweeted about his homecoming on Sunday.

yuvraj singh@YUVSTRONG12

finally the day has come ! i am going home tomorrow ! cant wait , excited to see my friends and family ..see you india!! mera bharat mahan !

8 Apr 12

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While in the USA, where he was since the last week of January, Yuvraj had done as much gym work and played pool as was physically possible during his treatment. He will hold a press conference on Wednesday, to presumably talk about his treatment and his comeback plan.

Credits For ESPNCRICINFO

Star TV bags rights to broadcast Indian cricket for 2012-18 period

Rupert Murdoch owned Star group won the Indian cricket broadcast and digital rights for an amount of 3851 crores for 6 years starting from July 2012 till March 2018, covering 96 matches. 

The announcement was made by BCCI president N Srinivasan in Chennai on Monday.

The BCCI chief announced at a press conference that the contract is for six years amounting to Rs 3851 crore, covering 96 matches and an average of Rs 40 crore per match.

What was being received from Nimbus was 32.25 crores and hailing this as an improvement, Srinivasan said that BCCI is very very glad that media rights have been fully evaluated and now fully priced.

Five parties picked up the tender documents - Star India, ESPN Software, Multi Screen Media, Zee Entertainment, Times Internet.

Bids were submitted by star and MSM and after following the transparent process and verifying the eligibility for each bidder, the bid was opened in the presence of both the party and the winner was chosen. 

The six-year contract was awarded to Star group. Sony's bidding amount was Rs 3700 crore, the second highest.
 
BCCI had received bids for broadcast, internet and mobile rights in India from ESPN Star Sports (ESS), Multi Screen Media ( Sony), Bennett & Coleman (BCCL) and a consortium involving TV-18 and Reliance.
 
It was an interesting three-way battle between MSM, ESS and TV 18-Reliance consortium for the broadcast rights of India's international matches at home, after the BCCI decided to cancel its previous contract with Nimbus Communications over payment problems.

Star also got the rights to broadcast domestic events like Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Irani Trophy.

ESS is a 50:50 joint venture between Walt Disney (ESPN, Inc.), the parent company of ESPNcricinfo, and News Corporation Limited (STAR) and they have the rights of all ICC events and also rights of domestic cricket in England and Australia.

The BCCI's marketing committee set the price for category A games at Rs 31.25 crore per match (approx $6.1 million) plus Rs 1 crore (approx $0.2 million) while category B games were set at Rs 34 crore (approx $6.67 million) plus Rs 1 crore.

The board failed in its attempt to sell the internet rights separately last year, as the initial base price of Rs 3 crore and the subsequently reduced price of Rs 2 crore found no takers.

The BCCI terminated Nimbus' contract last year claiming the latter had defaulted on payments.

The matter has subsequently been referred for arbitration, with the Bombay high court ruling that Nimbus must deposit Rs 305 crore (approx $60 million) with the court as security for the amount the BCCI claims it is owed by the company.

The BCCI's marketing committee set the price for category A games at Rs 31.25 crores per match (approx $6.1 million) plus Rs 1 crore (approx $0.2 million) while category B games were set at Rs 34 crores (approx $6.67 million) plus Rs 1 crore. The contract with Nimbus had a base price of Rs 31.25 crores (approx $6.1 million) per game for each of the three formats purely for the broadcast rights.

The board did attempt to sell the internet rights separately last year, but the tender found no takers at the initial base price of Rs 3 crores (approx $0.6 million) or its subsequently reduced price of Rs 2 crores (approx $0.4 million).
Nimbus has also made a counter-claim of Rs 600 crore (approx $118 million) from the board.

Yuvraj back to normal in couple of months

Yuvraj Singh's response to chemotherapy has left his medical team "fairly confident" that the mediastinal seminoma he had been diagnosed with "will not come back." Dr Nitesh Rohatgi, a key member of Yuvraj's medical team, told ESPNcricinfo that according to their assessment, Yuvraj could "get back to normal activity in about a couple of month's time." Yuvraj underwent three cycles of chemotherapy, the last one in hospital before being discharged, and is expected to return to India in the first half of April.

Rohatgi, senior medical oncologist at Delhi's Max Cancer Centre, said Yuvraj, diagnosed with a mediastinal seminoma, a germ-cell tumour between his lungs, had responded well to therapy. "He has had the standard treatment for such tumours, which is three cycles of chemotherapy followed by a strict protocol based follow-up and we are cautiously confident that it will not come back."


The doctors' progressive assessment over the period of almost two months of chemotherapy had indicated that the "tumour mass" detected earlier "has now shrunk significantly. The cancer protein (tumour marker) has come down faster than expected and both the signs together are reassuring of the fact that the cancer should be on the way out of his system."

 Yuvraj has been in the United States for treatment since end January. He underwent chemotherapy in Indianapolis at the Indiana University's IU Simon Cancer Center under the supervision of Rohatgi and Lawrence H Einhorn, who had headed the treatment of cycling champion Lance Armstrong in 1996.

Rahul Dravid retires Video

Dravid walks off, sad but proud, DRAVID We Love You

Rahul Dravid retires from international cricket

RAHUL DRAVID THE SUPER STAR OF INDIA

Indian superstar Rahul Dravid announced his retirement from international cricket on Friday at the age of 39, ending a 16-year career that made him an idol at home and abroad.

"It is time to move on and let a new generation of players make their own history," Dravid told reporters at a crowded news conference in Bangalore alongside Indian cricket board president Narayanaswamy Srinivasan.

The stylish batsman was the number two run-getter in Test cricket behind compatriot Sachin Tendulkar with 13,288 runs from 164 matches at an average of 52.31 with 36 centuries.

"When I started, I could never imagine that this long journey will take me so far," Dravid said. "In the Indian team I was fortunate to be part of a wonderful era.

"Many of my team-mates have become legends, not just in India but in the wider world... I leave the game with wonderful memories and great friendships."

The man known as "the Wall" for his immaculate technique, was also one of only 10 batsmen to score more than 10,000 runs in one-day cricket, which he quit last year to prolong his Test career.

His one-day tally stood at 10,889 runs from 344 matches at an average of 39.16 with 12 centuries.

Indian cricket boss Srinivasan called Dravid "one of the finest cricketers India has ever produced" and a "great role model".

Rahul Dravid to announce retirement: reports

Indian batting superstar Rahul Dravid, the second-highest runscorer in Tests of all time, is set to announce his retirement from international cricket on Friday, reports say.

The Press Trust of India and the Cricinfo website both said the 39-year-old was set to end his career in the national team after his wretched tour of Australia, where India were whitewashed 4-0 in the Test series.

Dravid, popularly known as "The Wall," scored only 194 runs in eight innings and was bowled out in six of them as Australian paceman Ben Hilfenhaus repeatedly breached his defence with ease.

India's once-formidable but now ageing batting stars Dravid, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar are all under pressure after the team's performance in India.

Dravid is to address a press conference in Bangalore on Friday alongside the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, N. Srinivasan, the Press Trust of India reported, citing a statement.



The one-time India captain retired from short formats of the international game last year, but had vowed to continue in Tests. (AFP).
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