Mudgal report: Even Dhoni hid the truth about Meiyappan?

N Srinivasan’s defense that Gurunath Meiyappan was not the team principal of Chennai Super Kings but just a cricket enthusiast has been demolished by the Justice Mudgal committee report on the allegations of IPL betting and spot-fixing. But the report also indicates MS Dhoni was economical with the truth as well. At the time the allegations broke last year, Srinivasan strenuously denied Meiyappan had anything to do with the team, saying he was only a cricket enthusiast. That explanation did not explain how Gurunath had access to the team dugout, team meetings and IPL owner-only meetings but when he was pressed on the issue, Srinivasan deferred to the courts, saying the matter was sub-judice. [caption id=“attachment_1382673” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  MS Dhoni. AP[/caption] Now there can be no more defenses as the report comes to the clear conclusion that Meiyappan was the face of Chennai Super Kings. “We found that most people associated with cricket did say he was a team official,” Justice Mukul Mudgal told Firstpost. “He was at the auction. We have concluded he was a team official and team officials are forbidden from betting.” There are more worrying signs for Indian cricket in the report though. The report, a copy of which is with _Firstpost_ , states that “Mr. M.S. Dhoni, Mr. N. Srinivasan and officials of India Cements took the stand that Mr. Meiyappan had nothing to do with the cricketing affairs of Chennai Super Kings and was a mere cricket enthusiast supporting CSK.” It is worth remembering that in a 2011 interview with the Hindu Business Line, Meiyappan said the following: “Before every game, Dhoni, Fleming and I exchange our elevens at 5.45 p.m. (for the night matches).” And this: “Fleming and I spent countless hours in the lead-up to the auction. In the last three days, we conducted mock auctions, picked around 45 different combinations.” That certainly sounds like Meiyappan had a lot to do with the cricketing affairs of CSK. While the report draws no conclusions about the nature of the testimony, it suggests either Dhoni or Meiyappan was not telling the whole truth about the nature of the latter’s association with the team. The facts would indicate it is Meiyappan who is telling the truth, not Dhoni. The report goes on to state that: “India Cements themselves forwarded accreditation requests for Mr. Meiyappan, every year for the last 6 seasons, requesting for grant of accreditation access cards in the name of Mr. Meiyappan under different nomenclatures (i.e. Owner and Management). “A letter from BCCI dated 03.02.2013 annexed the details of accreditation sought by CSK Chennai, which shows that in 2011 at Sl. No4 Sri Gurunath Meiyappan is described as Director. “This in our view demonstrates beyond doubt that at least in 2011 in a representation made by CSK for accreditation to BCCI, Mr. Meiyappan was described as a Director. This document also seeks access to Mr. Meiyappan to all areas. A gold pass and a management blue pass have also been sought for Meiyappan. The above documents further strengthen our conclusion that Mr. Gurunath Meiyappan was a part of CSK.” It would stretch the bounds of credibility that Srinivasan was not aware his son-in-law was a team official given that he was both BCCI secretary and president during this time, aside from being the managing director of India Cements, which owns the Chennai Super Kings. That raises serious questions about the governance of cricket in India. If the BCCI president and India’s captain willfully misrepresent the facts because the facts happen to be inconvenient, then there is no one left to police the game and no one can be trusted. Srinivasan claims the BCCI has a zero-tolerance approach to fixing and corruption. This report gives the lie to such a claim. Meiyappan broke the rules. Yet Srinivasan’s priority was covering it up rather than finding out the truth. In doing so, he has dragged India’s captain along with him. These are not encouraging signs for Indian cricket, no matter how someone might try to spin them. In fact, with Srinivasan about to be elevated to ICC chairman, all of cricket should be worried.