Tendulkar's inputs 'very helpful' in Mudgal probe

Less than a month after Sachin Tendulkar played his last international cricket match (November 14-16) last year, the legendary cricketer played a crucial role in helping clean up the tarnished image of the game.

Sachin deposed before the Justice Mudgal panel probing alleged irregularities in the Indian Premier League on December 7 last year. "Sachin was very comfortable when he interacted with the probe committee in Mumbai.

He shared many things with us and those were very helpful in the probe," L Nageswara Rao, a member of the Mudgal probe panel, told MiD DAY yesterday. (Also read: IPL probe finds CSK's Meiyappan guilty)

"We have not seen any resistance from any players, who deposed before the committee. Actually, we made them very comfortable," added Rao, a former cricketer himself.

A month after Sachin's deposition, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni also appeared before the probe panel on January 6 this year. (Related: Probe report to have no impact on IPL auctions, says Rajeev Shukla)

Other cricketers, who made an appearance before the panel are Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Venkatesh Prasad, Sourav Ganguly and Krishnamachari Srikanth.

Rao said the probe was hard work: "It was a very tough probe. We had to work on weekends too. We had to read thousands of documents and met numerous people. But given our passion for the game, we all enjoyed the challenge."

The three-member probe panel comprising Mudgal, a former chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court; Additional Solicitor General of India, Rao and senior advocate Nilay Dutta, was formed last year after the BCCI-appointed panel comprising former judges of the Madras High Court - Justice T Jayarama Chouta and Justice R Balasubramanian - was deemed illegal by the Bombay High Court.