Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary and Chennai Super Kings franchise owner N Srinivasan rubbished reports that he tried to 'fix' the Indian Premier League's 2009 player auction, insisting he won the bid "fair and square".
A television channel on Wednesday claimed that Srinivasan, in connivance with suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi, tried to fix the bid of former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff in Chennai Super Kings' favour.
However, Srinivasan said he did not do anything wrong, his franchise outbid Rajasthan Royals, as only they had the full purse of US $2 million.
"I didn't need anybody's favour. Rajasthan Royals bid for US $1.5m for Flintoff, I beat them at US $1.55m. So where is the deal? How can I have any deal? How can Modi have control of Shane Warne, unless he is the owner of the Rajasthan Royals," he told Times Now.
"Hundred per cent, I'm telling you, we did nothing wrong. We won fair and square. We were the only ones who could have bought new players, because I had the full purse. I didn't need anybody's favour," he said.
"Chennai Super Kings is the only team which had the US $2 million in the purse. Everybody else had less, so we didn't need anybody's favour to buy Flintoff," he added.
The television report quoted an e-mail purportedly written by Modi to Srinivasan, which read "what a nightmare to convince them not to terminate (Sohail) Tanvir and also not to take Flintoff. Warne went off the handle. But have managed it by using stick and carrot strategy. Thus they have USD 1.875mn. Much love Lalit".
This is not the first time that Srinivasan has found himself in a controversy. A few days back, he was accused of 'fixing' umpires for Chennai Super Kings matches during the IPL.
