Justice Lodha’s stinging decision to suspend the two heavyweight IPL franchises in CSK and RR, sent shock-waves across the country.The Indian A coach Rahul Dravid, who also happens to be mentor for the Rajasthan Royals, wasn’t keen on commenting on the verdict.He also time and again denied any knowledge of smelling anything fishy in his tenure as a captain of RR.
“I wish I had known three players (S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila) were doing something suspicious. I would have dealt with it. I had no clue about what was going on. I spoke to Mudgal Commission about this” said the former Indian Skipper.
“I don’t want to defend myself and it’s up to people to decide whether it’s a blot. People need to decide whether action of shareholders should be linked to coaches and mentors. It’s disappointing but I don’t want to make judgments on people. Top coaches have stuff to do and its always unfortunate that people at the bottom of the pyramid suffer the most,” added Dravid.
Dravid also felt that a lot of thought could have gone into the verdict as well as the Mudgal report which eventually culminated to the events that unfolded, but also warned that the Authorities must be ever be wary as the clean up process cannot be completed ‘overnight’.
“It’s not for me to decide whether it was harsh. Judges would have put a lot of thought into it. They have a lot more understanding than I do. I have to respect the decision that they have taken, but it’s tough on the league.”
“It is disappointing that the action of one or two people can affect a lot others. Despite strict punishments, there still are people who want to bring the game into disrepute. So we need to stay vigilant,” said the man who has more than 20000 international runs.
