MUMBAI: Already battling a range of scandals, the Indian Premier League has been hit by yet another one with a leading Hindi news channel claiming that several domestic and international players, both Indian and foreign, along with the team owners are involved in fixing matches.

India TV?s sting operation which was aired on Monday during prime time revealed that the fixing menace is also prevalent in domestic cricket with women playing facilitators role.

As a corrective action, the IPL Governing Council has handed out suspension orders to five uncapped Indian players on Tuesday with immediate effect pending completion of an inquiry.

The decision to suspend Mohnish Mishra, Shalabh Srivastava, T.P. Sudhindra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali was taken after a lengthy tele-conference of top BCCI officials and members of the IPL?s Governing Council.

Incidentally, the news comes just days after the BCCI announced the formation of an anti-corruption unit to be headed by Ravi Sawani, the former chief of the ICC?s Anti-Corruption Unit.

Deccan Chargers? T Sudhindra, according to the channel, had bowled a no-ball in last year?s first class match on their reporter?s insistence. He also assured to change his team in future if he was paid Rs 6 million.

Kings XI Punjab player Shalabh Srivastava demanded Rs 1 million for bowling a no-ball in a IPL match, the channel stated.

Mohnish Mishra, playing for Pune Warriors India, confessed that he was getting Rs 14.5 million from its owner Sahara whereas he was in the Rs 3 million slab.

Many other revelations came to light in the sting operation that probably for the first time in cricketing history, senior and junior cricketers playing in rival teams jointly fixed the outcome of matches.

A clear pattern has supposedly emerged where a particular bowler has bowled easy deliveries and dropped catches, while his ?partner in crime? went on a scoring spree, the channel averred.

The sting operation also brought to light the ?murky? dealings between players and franchises thereby bringing the issue to the fore what was only being spoken in hushed voices in cricketing circles.

IPL players caught during the sting also confessed to receiving more than the prescribed auction amount in the contract through illegal means which makes a mockery of the salary cap guideline laid down by the BCCI.

It needs noting that BCCI had in the past imposed bans on Chennai Super Kings? player Ravindra Jadeja and Royal Challengers Bangalore player Manish Pandey for negotiating with other team owners for a larger financial contract.

It is also widely believed that top players like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and MS Dhoni who were retained by their respective franchises have been paid more than the prescribed $2.4 million which franchises are supposed to pay for the first player retained.

The BCCI as usual has released a brief statement vowing to "act against corruption". However, it would be interesting to watch how the world?s richest cricket tackles the crisis.

"Some TV channels have been reporting a story pertaining to alleged unacceptable practices by players participating in the IPL. The BCCI will not tolerate any violation of regulations and any act of corruption," BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale said in a statement.

The complete footage of the ?sting operation,? will be sought, and examined thoroughly, Jagdale added.

India TV Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma on his part assured that it will extend all possible help to the BCCI.

"The BCCI has already asked us to provide the tapes and we are ready to cooperate not only with BCCI but also investigation agencies. We want players to play honestly and respect the fans who literally worship them," Sharma told the press conference that was telecast live on the channel.

He further revealed, "We had been working on this sting since May last year. We started it right after the IPL season IV ended and worked on it till 21 April 2102."

"We first spoke to Deccan Chargers player T P Sudhindra last year as agents of a sports management firm. He opened up very easily and gave us a lot of information on how spot fixing is prevalent in local, domestic and IPL matches.

"We didn?t trust him initially and to prove that it can be done, he bowled a no-ball in one of the domestic matches. Another thing was the revelation that Kings XI bowler Shalabh Srivastava was ready to do spot fixing during the current IPL."

Sharma also pointed out the names of two notables who refused to walk the path of their shamed fellow colleagues.
"However there were players like Kolkata Knight Riders? Rajat Bhatia and Rajasthan Royals? Samad Fallah who didn?t fall for the lure of money and we should appreciate them," said Sharma.

Last year, Pakistan players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were jailed in Britain for their role in spot-fixing during their test match against England at Lords in August 2010. The International Cricket Council subsequently banned the three players for a minimum of five years.

The spot-fixing scam had come to light after the now defunct British newspaper News of the World carried through a sting operation revealed how sports agent Mazhar Majeed boasted of how he could arrange for players to rig games for money.

MUMBAI: Leading DTH operator Tata Sky has associated with Universal Collectabillia to auction four exclusive and unique cricketing memorabilia autographed by Indian cricketers - Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh - on its power on channel ?Channel 100?.

The exclusive and personalised range would include a signed jersey from Dhoni and Yuvraj, a white cricket ball signed by Zaheer Khan and an engraved pen and signed memento by master blaster Sachin. In addition to the memorabilia, the highest bidder would receive a certificate of authenticity issued by UCPL that guarantees that the signatures are genuine and personally signed by the individual player himself.

The auction will begin on 5 May and would take place every Saturday during the month of May 2012. Each memorabilia will have a pre-defined price with the minimum bid starting at Rs 2500. The subscriber with the highest bidding price will become the proud owner of a part of his favourite cricketing star.

MUMBAI: History TV18, a joint venture between A+E Networks and TV18, is launching its eighth regional-language feed, this time in Urdu.

In another major move, the factual entertainment channel has readied a local show to air for the first time. Titled The
Greatest Indian, the show will be in conjunction with CNN IBN and BBC Worldwide from whom the format rights have been bought. The initiative is on the lines of the greatest Briton where people vote for whom they think is their greatest Indian.

A+E Networks TV18 president Ajay Chacko believes that Urdu is not a small market; 27 million people watch Urdu content.

Indiantelevision.com had reported in January 2012 that the channel was planning to launch two more language feeds.

History TV18 channel has the widest regional language spread. The other language feeds include Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Hindi, English and Gujarati.

The aim of the local show is to celebrate the idea of India and its diversity. Said IBN18 editor in chief Rajdeep Sardesai, "We want to find out who people think is the greatest Indian after 1948 since Mahatma
Gandhi. People can compare greats of the past to the present like Sunil Gavaskar to Sachin Tendulkar and Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh. The aim is to have fun, entertaining and informative content.

AETN 18 programming head Ritu Kapur said that pre-production work has started and the initiative will kick off in April. There will be debates and discussions.

?History Har Din? is a social media initiative and a site has been created, historyhardin.in.com, which went live today. People can upload photos and videos where they feel that they have made history.

"History is personal. A woman might feel that she has made history with the birth of her first child, for instance. People can share their stories and experiences. We hope to create vignettes which will air on the
channel. We are doing a lot of social media marketing to push this initiative. We are also using our own channels. We will use themes. For instance when the IPL is on, we could ask people to share their experiences in terms of history being made at the IPL" said Kapur.

The channel?s brand ambassador Salman Khan, who was present at a pres conference here, uploaded a photo of himself on a horse. "People who have a made a big contribution to humanity qualify for being The Greatest Indian like Mother Theresa," he said.

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