Forget Srinivasan, the biggest concern is Dhoni lying to Mudgal commission

The 25-page Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee’s report on IPL spot-fixing is out and while it has named four out of the 13 individuals probed, the identity of the remaining nine haven’t been revealed to protect their privacy.

Gurunath Meiyappan is mentioned as individual No. 1, Raj Kundra No. 11, Sundar Raman No. 12 and N Srinivasan No. 13.

The interesting part of the report is that two persons - individual 2 and individual 3 – who find a mention in the report.

The mysterious individuals have raised a lot of questions. The report says that N Srinivasan and other four BCCI officials were aware of the violation of the Players Code of Conduct by Individual 3 but didn’t take any action. The report also mentioned that individual 2 was in constant touch with Gurunath Meiyappan and frequently met him in the hotel room.

Questions have now surfaced whether the individual 2 is India and CSK captain MS Dhoni?

Pradeep Magazine in this article on Hindustan Times says, “I, like a million others, am curious to know who are Individuals 2 and 3 referred to in the report, and why have they been mentioned.

“The report says that Individual 2 met Gurunath Meiyappan in his hotel room a number of times. Why should this constitute a crime? If he is a Chennai Super Kings (CSK) player he is bound to meet a man acting as a team official. To decipher this mystery, one has to go back to the first report on the basis of which the Supreme Court had ordered a second probe.”

“In it, India and CSK captain MS Dhoni was recorded as saying that Meiyappan was not playing the role of a team official and Dhoni had not or rarely met him outside the playing field. But the Mudgal panel felt Dhoni had lied, and this point was heatedly debated in the court.”

Firstpost’s Tariq Engineer had earlier written an article where he has mentioned how Dhoni hid the truth about Meiyappan.

“ The report, a copy of which is with Firstpost , states that “Mr. M.S. Dhoni, Mr. N. Srinivasan and officials of India Cements took the stand that Mr. Meiyappan had nothing to do with the cricketing affairs of Chennai Super Kings and was a mere cricket enthusiast supporting CSK.”

It is worth remembering that in a 2011 interview with the Hindu Business Line, Meiyappan said the following:

“Before every game, Dhoni, Fleming and I exchange our elevens at 5.45 p.m. (for the night matches).” And this:

“Fleming and I spent countless hours in the lead-up to the auction. In the last three days, we conducted mock auctions, picked around 45 different combinations.”

That certainly sounds like Meiyappan had a lot to do with the cricketing affairs of CSK.”

Magazine goes on to say, “In their second report, when the panel says that Individual 2 met Meiyappan a number of times in his hotel room, it should become clear who this player is and why this “trivial” fact is significant. It shows Meiyappan was in regular touch with the captain, and that the captain had lied to the Mudgal panel.”

A report in Mumbai Mirror revealed that the individual 3 in question is a ‘star Indian player who is a part of the current Indian team’

These are indeed worrying signs for Indian cricket.

Click here to read the full Pradeep Magazine article in Hindustan Times.