Ban IPL to save cricket: Bal Thackeray

Shiv Sena [ Images ] chief Bal Thackeray [ Images ] demanded a ban on the controversial Indian Premier League [ Images ] (IPL) "to save cricket".

"The ongoing controversy involving IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi [ Images ] and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor [ Images ] has maligned the image of the 'gentleman's game'.

Ban the IPL to save the game of cricket," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Lambasting the UPA Government, he said if it was really concerned about the popular sport, they should immediately ban the BCCI-backed cash-rich tournament.

"What is this Modi, Modi going on. The entire controversy revolves around money so probe all the cricketers involved in IPL-3," he said.

The Sena chief, an ardent cricket fan, wondered how come the Reliance [ Get Quote ] Group-owned Mumabi Indians, who were on a winning spree in the IPL-3, all of a sudden lost to Shah Rukh Khan's [ Images ] Kolkata Knight Riders [ Images ] in a match on Monday.

Without naming Shah Rukh's team, he said there is a need to probe how come KKR won Monday's match and why key MI players -- Sachin Tendulkar [ Images ], Lasith Malinga [ Images ] and Kieron Pollard  -- did not play.

He also demanded a probe into the wealth of actors and businessmen who have pumped in huge amount of money in IPL franchisees.