Gagged by BCCI, Dhoni keeps mum on spot-fixing scandal

Having avoided the media before and after the final of the Indian Premier League, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today maintained a stoic silence on the spot-fixing scandal that has, among others, also led to the arrest of CSK's Team principal Gurunath Meiyappan.

On expected lines, BCCI issued a diktat that the journalists attending the press conference won't be allowed to ask questions on the spot-fixing scandal, which rocked the cash-rich league leading after the arrest of three cricketers including India international S Sreesanth.

When Dhoni was asked why has he not responded as the leader of the Indian cricket team, the media manager Dr R N Baba stopped the scribe from probing the skipper further, asking him to stick to questions pertaining to Champions Trophy. The team is leaving for England later tonight for the tournament.

Dr Baba is an official of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and is also one of Srinivasan's close aides. He has performed the duties of media manager for a major part of the last season. His son Aparajith is an U-19 India and contracted player of CSK.

Another question that was put forward to Dhoni was how difficult it will be for him and the team to instil faith in the cricket loving people that everything would be "fair" during Champions Trophy. All Dhoni could manage was a chuckle as Dr Baba again sprung into action stopping the journalist from probing further.

As far as cricketing queries were concerned, one got the routine predictable answers from the India captain -- it has been the case for the better part of the last six years.