The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to introduce stricter disciplinary and access-control measures in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) following a series of incidents that have raised concerns within the board over security and anti-corruption protocol violations.
“We are forced to issue guidelines in this season of IPL. We saw many incidents which makes the board uncomfortable. We are in talks with IPL franchises to ensure no untoward incidents happen again. There has been lots of indiscipline in this IPL,” a BCCI source told ANI on Tuesday.
The latest move comes days after BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla confirmed that the board was drafting new regulations to control player access and prevent unauthorised interactions in hotels, team buses and other designated secure areas during the tournament.
Speaking in Lucknow last week, Shukla said the measures were intended to ensure transparency and strengthen the league’s integrity framework.
“The access that the players have will be controlled; unauthorised people will not be allowed to meet the players, neither in hotels nor on buses, to ensure the transparency of the IPL,” he had said.
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia had also raised concerns over what he described as “anomalies and irregularities” involving players, franchise officials and outsiders during the tournament.
According to Saikia, the board noticed several instances of unauthorised individuals accompanying team members, entering team hotels and even accessing players’ and officials’ rooms — actions considered to be in direct violation of the IPL’s anti-corruption protocols.
He further noted that certain franchise owners and officials were seen interacting with players in restricted zones where such meetings are prohibited under tournament regulations.
The ongoing season has already seen disciplinary action in multiple cases. Riyan Parag, captain of Rajasthan Royals, was fined 25 per cent of his match fee and handed a demerit point after he was caught vaping inside the dressing room during a match against Punjab Kings.
In another incident, Rajasthan Royals manager Ravinder Singh Bhinder was fined INR 100,000 for using a mobile phone near the dugout during a game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Guwahati.
Source: Khaleej Times