This is something which has shocked us all,” says N Srinivasan to Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN. “The IPL is the biggest tournament in the world and we should be proud of it. Everybody is now berating the IPL… saying that the IPL is finished. Naturally it will have some impact, but what that impact is — your view is different to mine. This not only worries me, but I have to sit here and listen to statements like ‘the IPL is fixed’. The BCCI will deal with this. If you think we’re not concerned, then you are wrong. We will deal with this, but we have a way of governing.”
“Three players are caught… and you’re saying the IPL is fixed. I do not agree to this. I think fans still believe in cricket. Throughout history such things have happened.”
Thapar asked Srinivasan on why Lalit Modi’s warnings over fixing were ignored by the BCCI, to which he replied: “I don’t think what Modi says is credible – he is a man under inquiry.”
His response to the ICC’s warnings: “Whatever the ICC has asked us to, the BCCI has done. We’re now going to work towards fixing this. Of all the people, I am hurting the most. The last thing we want is for something like this to happen.”
“I am not a single man organisation,” said Srinivasan. Thapar asked him why the BCCI and IPL is not being brought under the Right to Information Act? “We are a private organisation. The fault does not lie with us not being under this act, it lies with greedy players.”
Thapar brought up the issue of Srinivasan being BCCI chief and owning an IPL team. The owner of CSK responded by saying: “I do not own the team. I happen to be a shareholder of the company who owns the team. I cannot respond to matters which are in court.”
On the matter that whether he needs to apologise to people for the scandal, Srinivasan said: “It’s not because of the IPL. It’s because of some dirty players. If permitted we will bring criminal charges on these players. I have no reason to apologise. To punish these players, we will go as far as possible.”
