The champions of the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Rajasthan Royals (RR), find themselves surrounded by a controversy over their 2-run defeat against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the ongoing season. Rajasthan looked to be cruising at one point, while chasing a target of 181 runs, but LSG pacer Avesh Khan pulled the match in his team’s favour in the death overs. The result, however, has seen accusations of ‘match-fixing’ being raised against the Royals by Jaideep Bihani, the convenor of the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) ad hoc committee

In a chat with News18 Rajasthan, Bihani, who is also the MLA from Sri Ganganagar, launched a scathing attack at the Sanju Samson-led franchise, questioning the legitimacy behind the RR’s defeat against LSG in the last over.

Bihani also questioned why the government-appointed ad hoc committee had no control over the Rajasthan Royals’ affairs in the IPL.

“The ad hoc committee has been appointed by the state government in Rajasthan. It has extended for a fifth time. We make sure all competitions take place without any issues. But then, just as IPL came, the Zila Parishad (district council) took control of it. For IPL, the BCCI had first sent a letter to RCA only, not the Zila Parishad. The excuse given by them and RR is that we don’t have an MoU from Sawai Mansingh Stadium. If the MoU is not there, so what? Aren’t you paying Zila Parishad for every match?”

Rajasthan Royals needed nine runs in the final over, being bowled by Avesh Khan of Lucknow Super Giants. RR had Dhruv Jurel on strike while Shimron Hetmyer was at the non-striker’s end. Avesh produced a yorker-bowling spree to prevent RR batters from taking their team home. Avesh only conceded 6 runs in the final over, hence helping LSG win the match by 2 runs.

Bihani has been raising his voice against the cricketing affairs at the Rajasthan Royals for a while now. Earlier, he had questioned the Sports Council’s decision to keep the state association’s ad-hoc committee away from the Rajasthan Royals’ IPL affairs.