IPC GC to have review meeting after tournament

Chandigarh: A senior member of the Indian Premier League Governing Council on Tuesday said that the GC will hold a review meeting to take stock of the IPL once it is over so that the off-field controversies that rocked the cash-rich Twenty20 league do not happen in future.

M P Pandove, a GC member and former BCCI Treasurer, said the meeting will discuss corrective measures after IPL hit the headlines due to controversies ranging from a TV sting claiming to expose spot-fixing to alleged molestation charge against a player and two players being detained at a rave party. Pandove said that he favoured a stringent Code of Conduct for the players and regulatory control over them. "After IPL is over, we will sit and review things. We will discuss everything in detail," Pandove, who is also Secretary of Punjab Cricket Association, said on Tuesday. He agreed that IPL 5 has been more in the news due to off-the-ground activities than on-field but said that the tournament could not be blamed for that. He, however, asserted that IPL was here to stay and those wishing otherwise would be proved wrong "as people love this format and have extended their full support by watching the matches in maximum attendance". "Now, you say about players attending late night parties. As far as IPL is concerned, we stopped holding such parties in the second season itself. IPL does not hold any such function and we have even issued advisories to the franchisees, who hold these events, not to engage the players," he said. He said that players should themselves refrain from going to such parties and concentrate on the game. "We will suggest and work out a system to have some kind of regulatory control. Some strict Code of Conduct for the players and regulatory control has to be there," said Pandove. On allegations of black money being pumped into the IPL, Pandove said, "As far as the IPL and BCCI is concerned, there is no such thing." "If a franchisee has taken the team, how would BCCI know how money has come to the franchisee. We don`t have investigative agency. If the Government or the Enforcement Directorate feel there is some doubt, they can always investigate," said Pandove. He said that the BCCI strictly follows the "payment purse" for each franchisees. "If somebody does underhand deal with any player, the Board can suspend that particular player. We were also quick to suspend the five players after the TV sting," he said. Pandove said that two years back, he had written a letter to the then BCCI chief Shashank Manohar to address some key areas regarding the conduct of the IPL. "On the late night parties, I had written that it upsets the players` body-clock. Even during a bilateral series, teams hold just one function/dinner for the entire duration of the tour," he said. While IPL may be a melting pot of cultures with many foreign players taking part, Pandove said he has raised the issue of "cultural differences" that may sway the younger and immature players. He had also touched upon the issue of franchisees signing state players without the consent of their parent association and favoured curbs on the practice of manoeuvring of the players to sign contracts with the franchisees by the agents. Pandove further said that PCA had earlier this year taken a decision which was aimed to encourage players to hone their skills first. The PCA had decided not to give NOC to any player registered with it under the age of 21 who play in T20 game for any club/team/institution including the cash-rich IPL. Pandove maintained that the shortest version of the game was distracting the players from acquiring the skills necessary for playing in the longer version of the game -- five and four-day matches. However, exception had been made for contracted players of the BCCI even if they were below the age of 21, he said. PTI