AB de Villiers reveals interesting facts about match-fixing and corruption in the IPL

Corruption is an evil. And, unfortunately, it is present everywhere in every aspect of our life including sports. Fans and followers of the game always wonder about few questions related to lust for power, position, and money involved the sports field.

Is corruption prevalent in sports? How does corruption affect the sportspersons? Are the players directly involved in such menace? These are some of the questions that always is there in the mind of the general fans.

South Africa’s Test captain, AB de Villiers, seems to have given a brief outline of these questions in his autobiography. The Proteas batting star has opened up saying that corruption does exist in the game. Speaking about the controversial issues that plagued the IPL and forced the suspension of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, De Villiers writes in his autobiography that he had no knowledge of either of the cases when the news first came.

“It is human nature that where there is money to be made, there will always be those prepared to go any lengths to pocket some for themselves while stating his views on corruption, the 32-year old admitted that.”

De Villiers, who plays for RCB in the cash-rich league, feels that the International Cricket Council has set up ‘proper systems’ along with national bodies to sniff out any instances of corruption in the game, but insisted that it is a hard task to find out players who are involved with betting syndicates and indulge in spot-fixing.

Expressing his personal opinion on match-fixing, he said that he ‘has never seen any indication of match-fixing and, if I did, I would report it immediately’.

“I really hate to think that players with or against me could be deliberately distorting the course of the game for their own financial gain. I simply can’t understand it”.

In May 2013, Mumbai Police arrested Gurunath Meiyappan on charges of placing bets and being in contact with bookies. The very next year, the Supreme Court gave clear directives to the Chennai franchise to remove N. Srinivasan from his top spot. In July 2015, the RM Lodha committee suspended the owners of both Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for a period of two years.

Subsequently, last season, two new teams, Gujarat Lions and Pune Supergiants, were introduced to replace the two suspended teams.