Brad Hodge

Calcutta: The Kolkata Knight Riders will look at the option of “legal action” against a website and publications which “misquoted” IPL commissioner Lalit Modi on the hugely sensitive issue of match-fixing.

Reports after the Knights’ last defeat, at the hands of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Centurion on Tuesday, suggested that Brad Hodge’s omission from the XI and his presence in a hospitality box had something to do with match-fixing.

It’s difficult connecting the two, but a very touchy issue nevertheless got raised. Match-fixing, after all, has hurt cricket in (among other countries) India and South Africa.

“We’ve spoken to the IPL secretariat and they’ve confirmed that Mr Modi has been misquoted… At no time did he tell anybody that footage of the match would be reviewed to study the possibility of match-fixing,” an exasperated team director, Joy Bhattacharjya, told The Telegraph on Thursday afternoon.

Speaking from Johannesburg, where the bottom-ranked team is based till May 19, he added: “Hodge has been absolutely gutted by the reports… His reputation has been tarnished… Now, we’ll be looking at the option of legal action…

“Enough is enough… First the charge of racism and, now, match-fixing… We’ve gone wrong with some things, yes, but we’re neither racists nor match-fixers. ”

According to Bhattacharjya, Modi has clarified that any player who isn’t in the XI has the “freedom” to sit anywhere he wants. Hospitality box included.

Clearly, sitting in the dug out isn’t mandatory.

In any case, Hodge had parked himself in a hospitality box earmarked for the Knights.

[Late in the evening, an agency report from Durban quoted Modi as saying: “There are absolutely no issues…”]

But why was Hodge, the team’s No.1 scorer (240 runs) in an eminently forgettable tournament, left out in Centurion?

“Because it had become clear even before the toss that we just wouldn’t be able to make the semi-finals… Hodge’s exclusion that day has started a system of rotation and there will be new faces in the three matches that remain. Some of our players haven’t played even once,” the team director maintained.

Meanwhile, one learns that while there had been an “altercation” between coach Matthew Mott and Ajit Agarkar during an earlier match, no racist words had been used.

The coach, though, did resort to an expletive as Agarkar chose to disregard his instructions in a “tense environment.”

Mott, incidentally, has been hand-picked by the Knights’ head of cricket operations, John Buchanan.

It’s to be seen whether they’ll have a role to play in season No.3, next year, as well.