labh Srivastav, for instance, has been handed a five-year ban, for what the committee said was "agreeing to fix a match and negotiate terms for the same." The committee, however, acknowledged that any actual fixing had never taken place.
The three others — Mohnish Mishra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali — were let off with a lighter sentence of a one year suspension. Their mistake: "Loose talk and unsubstantiated bragging which brought the game into disrepute."
The five players were earlier suspended after a sting operation by a television channel, where they are said to have confessed to the existence of match-fixing in the IPL. They also spoke of murky deals that were struck for and during the T20 tournament.
Before delivering the verdict, the disciplinary committee called the players for a physical audience. Sudhindra, Mishra and Bali turned up to face the committee.
The other two – Srivastav and Yadav – were spoken to over the telephone. Sudhindra, it was understood, broke down before the committee and confessed to his guilt. All five accused were believed to have confessed to their actions before they interacted with the committee, among who were BCCI chief N Srinivasan and vice-presidents Niranjan Shah and Arun Jaitley. After the verdict, a few of them said they were contemplating resorting to the legal route henceforth. "I'll take necessary steps once I get proper advice," said Sudhindra. The verdict follows an inquiry conducted by BCCI's Anti-Corruption Unit chief Ravi Sawani. Sawani submitted a report of about sixty pages to the BCCI president a few weeks back.
Although Sawani was not present at Saturday's hearing, he is believed to have recommended the quantum of punishment for the players.