Hard Hitting Klaasen comes to Rajasthan Royals for Banned Steve Smith

The countdown has begun for the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier league and with only a handful of days left, franchises are making last-minute additions to their squads.

Returning after a two-year ban, Rajasthan Royals are slated to begin their IPL campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 9. After Steve Smith was ruled out of the 11th edition following the ball-tampering scandal, South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen has been named as his replacement. Smith was due to lead the Rajasthan Royals in the upcoming edition of the T20I lucrative league, but he was banned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after being imposed a 12-month suspension by the Cricket Australia for his involvement in ball-tampering scandal that took place during the four-match Test series against South Africa.

Considered as one of the few South African players to have managed to cope with Indian spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, Klaseen has been bought at his base price of Rs 50 lakh after being went unsold at the IPL Players Auction that took place in Bengaluru in January, ESPNcricinfo reported. Klaseen, who made his international debut for South Africa against Indian in February, has a strike rate of 146 after 44 innings in the shortest format of the game.

The updated squad of Rajasthan Royals is as follows: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), D'Arcy Short, Rahul Tripathi, Aryaman Birla, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Prashant Chopra, Heinrich Klaasen, Ben Stokes, Stuart Binny, Jofra Archer, K Gowtham, Jatin Saxena, Mahipal Lomror, Zahir Khan, Shreyas Gopal, Midhun S, Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dushmantha Chameera, Ben Laughlin

IPL 2018: KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS, RAJASTHAN ROYAL OPEN TO TIME CHANGE, BCCI MAY CONSIDER

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to take a favorable call on the proposed changes to the timings of the matches of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Some franchises have seen merit in the idea, supposedly mooted by Star, and are understood to have conveyed this to the regulators. Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals have made it clear that they are comfortable with the change of timings, if not necessarily for the overlap of the matches.

“Look they are proposing to advance the games by 30 minutes — 3.30 pm for the afternoon games and 7.30 pm for night games. We see nothing wrong there. An early finish is in everyone’s interest. In-stadia public can go home early. It would be safe for them too. We will have an issue if there is an overlap of the games,” Venky Mysore, the CEO of the Shah Rukh Khan owned Kolkata franchise, told Mirror.

The original proposal was to start the evening games at 5.30pm and night matches at 7 pm but in the face of some opposition from certain teams, there seems to be some adjustments in the proposals. The teams have been explained that the viewership of the matches in the evening declines by 25 per cent in the last hour as the average match duration is three hours 24 minutes. The matches, more often than not, end after 11 pm. It is further argued that it would be difficult for in-stadia fans to find transport back home in places like Delhi, Kolkata and smaller cities like Jaipur.

Agrees Ranjit Balthakur of Rajasthan Royals. “We would prefer an early finish. In Jaipur, people tend to sleep early. If there are no doubleheaders, we are comfortable. In fact I have suggested that on weekends, instead of evening games, we can have breakfast games,” the CEO of the Jaipur team said.

The BCCI has not come out with its policy but an argument has also been made that players reach hotels only by 1 am after finishing the post-match formalities. Given the busy travel schedule during the league, the players often take flight early in the morning after a late arrival at the hotel. Early starts can lead to extra rest time for the players, it has been argued.

The biggest deciding factor yet could be the sponsors, who apparently don't get appropriate exposure during the post-match presentation. The presentations happen around 11.30 pm, by when viewers, both inside the ground and of television, won’t be there in big numbers.

The BCCI and IPL officials were not immediately available but the authorities seem to be sensitive to the view that there is transport discomfort after 11.30 pm.

There is a chance that the timings will be tweaked so that the matches end by 10.30 pm, not 11.30 pm.

Production bid delayed

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that the bidding date for the production services of the IPL and domestic games has been postponed by a week.

The BCCI has informed the concerned parties that the bidding will now happen on February 19, instead of February 12.

IPL betting probe : BCCI ACSU chief says no approach made to players in Kanpur

The Board of Control for Cricket’s (BCCI) Anti-Corruption Unit head, Neeraj Kumar, said on Friday that there was no evidence of IPL team players having been approached in the case involving the arrest of three men in Kanpur over links with an illegal betting syndicate.

Neeraj Kumar, a former Delhi Police Commissioner, made the clarification following speculation that the trio arrested from the team hotel on Thursday had mentioned during police questioning that they had approached a few players.

However, sources said a few players belonging to Gujarat Lions, who next host holders Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Green Park on Saturday, are likely to be asked to clarify their meeting some unknown people before Lions’ match against Delhi Daredevils played on Wednesday.

The arrests have once again brought cricket in Kanpur and Hotel Landmark under the limelight. According to sources, the trio not just managed to book rooms in the team hotel, but also reportedly got their rooms shifted closer to that of the players.

This isn’t the first time such an incident is connected to Hotel Landmark, where cricket teams stay during any major match in Kanpur.

The CBI report on corruption in cricket released in 2000 said it was where then India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin introduced bookie Mukesh Kumar Gupta alias MK to then South Africa captain, the late Hansie Cronje.

According to the report, Mukesh Gupta told investigators that he was introduced to Cronje during the third Test between India and South Africa at Kanpur in 1996. Hotel records show MK had stayed at Hotel Landmark where India and South Africa teams were staying during the Test.

A local police source said things have changed since then. “The modus operandi has changed as bookies now operate through Instagram, Whatsapp and other social media sites to stay in touch with people concerned, but attempts at fixing game remain unchanged even today,” the source told HT on condition of anonymity.

However, it is a challenge for officials to keep track of suspicious activities during the IPL and players too cannot entirely stay away because they have to meet a number of fans and attend various functions while travelling from one city to another as there is a strong entertainment element to the league.

IPL ban on Jadeja upheld..

It has been decided to uphold the IPL Governing Council’s decision to impose a one year IPL playing ban on Ravindra Jadeja.

The decision was taken by IPL Governing Council Member and DDCA President, Arun Jaitley after hearing representations fromRavindra Jadeja and both the franchises involved -- Mumbai and Jaipur.

Jaitley has recommended that the one year ban imposed on Jadeja from playing in the IPL be maintained.

This recommendation was based on the fact that the player contrived a situation to his advantage by breaching the Player Trading Rules and not signing his third year contract for IPL 2010 with Jaipur oufit.

In his report to the IPL Governing Council, Jaitley has stated that Jadeja wanted to utilise this breach to his own advantage and seek a better bargain from other franchises in terms of a higher compensation for himself. A fact also admitted to by Jadeja during the course of the hearing.

Thus, Jadeja committed a breach on two counts; firstly, by not signing the contract with Jaipur for IPL 2010, wherein he wanted to declare himself free from contractual obligations and failed to discharge his obligations under the Player Trading Rules.

Secondly, Jadeja's act of meeting representatives of Mumbai franchise and sending his contract documents to them for inspection and his own admission that he received documents from Mumbai and used them for representation purposes to the Governing Council, reveal that he was indeed guilty of breaching the Operational Rules by approaching another Franchise.

Jaitley further added that Jadeja had acted on the premise that since he had failed to sign a contract, he was no longer a contracted player with Jaipur.

However, as per the Player Guidelines a player who is under a legal obligation to sign the contract for the third year, has to be regarded as a contracted player for the purpose of those rules. A player under a legal obligation to be a contracted player does not cease to be a contracted player if he breaches his obligations.

It was however, clarified that the ban applied only to Jadeja's playing in the IPL, which is the sub-tournament of the BCCI and would not extend to matches organized by the BCCI or where the BCCI selects a team to represent India.

Lalit Modi, the Chairman & Commissioner of the IPL further added that the Governing Council will take these issues very seriously and there will be a zero tolerance policy, as the player guidelines laid out by of the IPL are sacrosanct and everyone must strictly adhere to the same.

In the hearing report, Jaitley has also recommended the sanction of a warning to Mumbai. Sighting the fact that the response by Mumbai to the approach by Jadeja, amounted to a franchise, having approached a player who was under an obligation to play for another franchise.

Under these circumstances Jaitley has give a declaration under the disciplinary Rules - of the Regulations and Disciplinary Procedures that Mumbai also ‘approached' Ravinder Jadeja, as they were in active communication with him regarding his obtaining a no objection from the IPL, which would have permitted him to play for the Mumbai franchise, particularly when Jaipur were desperately trying to get Jadeja to play for them.

In the future, Jaitely has also made it clear, that were any franchise to make such an ‘approach' or an active, ‘response to an approach', a more deterrent line of action should be considered.