Cricket crisis: politicians call for IPL to be scrapped
Delhi policemen escort Australian cricketer Luke Pomersbach to his court appearance in New Delhi on May 18, 2012. Indian police have charged Pomersbach with molesting a woman and badly beating up her fiance after a late-night party at a posh New Delhi hotel.
After Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan’s scuffle with security, and a high-profile player’s assault charges, Indian opposition politicians have called on the government to dismantle the IPL.
A match-fixing scandal has also rocked the Indian Premier League this season.
“IPL should be closed,” Lalu Prasad Yadav of the RJD Party said, according to IBN Live.
Yashwant Sinha, leader of the opposition, went further than that.
“It is not IPL, it is a rave party. It is against Indian culture,” he said, the Washington Post reported.
The IPL has adopted a rather Western-inspired approach to the game.
The nine teams have names such as Super Kings, Daredevils and Chargers with colorful logos, big-money sponsors and slick marketing campaigns.
More from GlobalPost: Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan banned from Mumbai stadium after brawl
The schedule and games are condensed; TV ratings and attendance are booming.
That’s also brought the controversy, however.
The Mumbai Cricket Association banned Khan – who owns the Kolkata Knight Riders – from the Wankhede Stadium for five years after an altercation with security on Wednesday.
He claims security guards acted aggressively toward him as he arrived to pick up 30 children – including his own – who had watched his Knight Riders beat the Mumbai Indians, BBC reported.
“Some of the things they said I don’t even want to repeat, and, yes I got angry,” he said.
There are allegations he was drinking.
“The rules apply to all – no one is above them,” MCA president Vilasrao Deshmukh told a press conference today, the BBC said.
Then, on Friday in New Delhi, police arrested Luke Pomersbach after an American woman accused him of sexual assault.
Police also said Pomersbach beat up her fiancé after they’d all been partying inside a five-star hotel. Pomersbach, an Australian, plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
“RCB will give full cooperation to authorities for fair investigation and so that the case if disposed of in accordance with law,” team owner Vijay Mallya told the Times of India.
It’s too much for Kirti Azad, an MP with the BJP and former cricket star. He threatened a hunger strike in protest.
“We have money laundering, we have violation of foreign exchange, we have one player slapping another, there was a sting operation for spot fixing, now rape,” he told the TOI.
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