Round up the usual suspect: Rajasthan Royals controversy with fixing

Every time somebody mentions fixing in IPL, the mind goes back to what Claude Rains says in Casablanca: ‘Round up the usual suspects.’

Rajasthan Royals, the franchise that has named itself after a state that is synonymous with enterprising Marwaris and chivalrous Rajput, has unfortunately become the usual suspect of IPL. If there is a controversy in the premier league, there has to be a RR connection.

From the very beginning, cricket and Royals, unlike what Humphrey Bogart says in Casablanca, has not been a beautiful friendship. Scams, fixing, arrests, legal controversies, probe in finances and controversies around ownership and owners have turned Royals into an ugly mess.

Now, yet another player has added to the troubled image of the franchise. According to reports, the unnamed RR player told the BCCI that he was approached by a Ranji player with an offer of money if he followed a pre-decided pattern of play.

The Indian Express reported that the Mumbai-based player did not accept the offer from his Ranji teammate who is not part of the T-20 league. The incident was later reported by a franchise official to the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit that monitors the IPL.

In 2013, the franchise was in a serious mess when three of its players, including former India pacer S Sreesanth, were arrested on charges of spot fixing. If the recent disclosure is true, it seems instead of scaring away bookies and fixers from the franchise, more of them see it as a potential target.

It is difficult to understand what it is about the Royals that attracts offers from fixers and their agents. Is it in their karma? Or is this just, as history suggests, bad luck?

Almost every year, since they won the inaugural tournament in 2008, the Royals have courted controversy. In 2010, the team was terminated by the BCCI for some time, allegedly for violated its agreement with Indian cricket’s governing body. It was reinstated after a brief legal battle with the BCCI.

Around the same time, the franchise was probed for the source of its finances. It was alleged that money for the franchise, the cheapest of the eight teams that were sold initially for the league, had been ‘round-tripped’ through Mauritius. Acting on the complaint, the Enforcement Director started a probe into allegations that owners of the franchise had flouted foreign exchange norms.

One of the owners of the franchise, Suresh Chellaram, is the brother-in-law of IPL’s first chief Lalit Modi. Actor Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra also own a minority stake in the franchise. The celebrity actor and her husband too were under a cloud when the Justice Mudgal Committee probing charges of betting and match-fixing in IPL raised questions about their role in the scandal.

It found that the Delhi police believe Kundra and his wife placed bets on several IPL matches through their friend Umesh Goenka. Kundra, allegedly, introduced Goenka to several other IPL teams and players. He was also Goenka’s guide to betting and bookies in Jaipur, home of the Royals. Later, the Supreme Court found Kundra guilty of betting on IPL.

The franchise has destroyed many careers, reputations and shattered several dreams. Lalit Modi, who had based the franchise in Jaipur, hoping that it will thrive on the brand value of Rajasthan, is himself a pariah in the state.

Over the past few years, his relations with Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who had helped Modi control the state’s cricket association, have soured. A few months ago, he was ousted as the association’s president by a BJP office-bearer Amin Pathan, considered close to Raje. The bon-homie between Raje and Modi, it is rumoured, has turned into deep-seated distrust.

As a result of the ongoing battle between Raje’s lieutenants and Modi, the franchise has been forced to move its base out of Jaipur’s SMS Stadium, the venue of the franchise’s several memorable performances.

The exit from Jaipur, ironically, is the termination of its last link with Rajasthan. Though the franchise retains the name of the state; the twain has nothing in common. It got its name only because the then IPL chief Modi was also heading the cricket association of Rajasthan and wanted a team to be named after his fief.

Its owners are not from the state; the team has had very few players from the Rajasthan: batsman Ashok Menaria and wicket-keeper Dikshant Yagnik are the only names that come to the mind. And now, the Royals do not even get to play in the state capital; they have been exiled to neighbouring Ahmedabad and to Mumbai.

Royals benefitted from Rajasthan’s brand equity, but gave nothing in return.

“Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine,” Bogart said in Casablanca.

Rajasthanis too would be wondering, of all the places in all the world, how did the franchise manage to walk into their state and leave after making it synonymous with scandals and controversies.