Who woulda thunk it?

Goodness; there's a big revelation in the IPL; RadioSport's website reports:

Five Indian Premier League players have been suspended from cricket as fresh fixing allegations hit the game and threatened to further tarnish a competition already dogged by controversy.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) moved swiftly after a sting operation by a local TV channel highlighted alleged fixing and corruption in domestic matches.

The five - T P Sudhindra, Mohnish Mishra, Abhinav Bali, Amit Yadav and Shalabh Srivastava - are all first-class players, but have yet to break into international cricket.

"The BCCI has decided to suspend these players from all cricket till preliminary investigation into the whole episode is completed," IPL commissioner Rajiv Shukla told reporters on Tuesday.

The inquiry will be carried out by former police officer Ravi Sawani, who has previously served on the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, Shukla added.

Hindi-language India TV showed Sudhindra, of the Deccan Chargers, allegedly agreeing to bowl pre-arranged no-balls in a local amateur match, while Kings XI Punjab player Srivastava was reportedly heard boasting he could do the same in the IPL.

The channel claimed it had taped seamer Srivastava telling its reporters he could deliver a no-ball in the IPL for one million rupees (about $US18,500).

Match-fixing is an absolute blight on the wonderful game of cricket. Given the amount of money that has flowed into the IPL, it's no surprise at all that the dodgy people whose sole motive is to make a killing by fair means or foul have followed the loot.

Thus far the accusations have been denied, but that is par for the course in cases such as these. It's a shame, because the IPL has actually provided some great cricket this year; but once again, there's doubt over whether or not it's kosher. That means that cricket is the loser on the day.