MS Dhoni speaks on 'absolute lie' in IPL spot-fixing case

Courtesy: PTI

New Delhi: Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has spoken about what he really told about Gurunath Meiyappan to a probe panel in Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing case.

Meiyappan was banned for life from cricket by a Supreme Court-appointed probe panel for his involvement in betting on IPL matches.

Dhoni, who was leading the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise, found himself in the spotlight in the IPL corruption case and was initially blamed for 'corrupt conduct'. In fact, reports have emerged that Dhoni had tried to cover up to save the former BCCI boss N Srinivasan and his son-in-law Meiyappan.

For that matter of fact, BCCI counsel CA Sundaram had said that Dhoni had been unnecessarily vilified by the opposing counsel Harish Salve, for the Cricket Association of Bihar.

Then there were reports that Dhoni had called Meiyappan a "cricket enthusiast".

"Let me tell you, it is an absolute lie that I told a probe panel that Meiyappan was only a cricket enthusiast, all I said is he had nothing to do with the team's on-field cricketing decisions. I can't even pronounce the word 'enthusiast'," the World Cup-winning captain was quoted in "Democracy XI", a book by journalist Rajdeep Sardesai.

In fact, then, Sundaram clarified that Dhoni had not used the word 'enthusiast' when speaking to the probe panel.

CSK and Rajasthan Royals (RR) were suspended from IPL for two years (2016 and 2017) for corruption. Both the teams will be in the next edition of world's premier cricket league.

During CSK's suspension, Dhoni turned up for Rising Pune Supergiant, and were the losing finalists in the previous edition.