New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI): BCCI president N. Srinivasan might have called his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan just a cricket enthusiast but Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opener Michael Hussey has said that the betting accused official was actually running the Indian Premier League (IPL) team.

In his book, Underneath The Southern Cross, Hussey has said that team owner Srinivasan had handed the control of the team to Meiyappan.

“Our owner was Indian Cements, headed by Mr Srinivasan,” Hussey wrote in his book.

“As he was also on the board of the BCCI, he gave control of the team to his son-in-law Mr Gurunath. He ran the team along with Kepler Wessels, who was coach.”

Former team principal of CSK, Meiyappan was chargesheeted along with 21 others for gambling, cheating and criminal conspiracy, in the spot-fixing case of the IPL.

Meiyappan was accused of revealing confidential information of his team and using the same for betting.

However, Srinivasan and India Cements distanced themselves from Gurunath with the BCCI president calling him just a “cricket enthusiast”.

Meiyappan was arrested by Mumbai Police in May and named in betting chargesheet last month. The Supreme Court of India is hearing a matter related to Meiyappan.

Prior to his arrest, the senior CSK official was involved in the functioning of the Chennai team as he could be spoted in the team dugout, at auction tables. Meiyappan also represented himself as the team prinicipal on a verified Twitter account.

After the scandal broke out, a two-member probe panel was constituted by the BCCI and it eventually cleared the CSK of any wrongdoing, but Cricket Association of Bihar moved court and procured a stay order.

The Supreme Court had said yesterday that Srinivasan, who was reelected as BCCI President in the AGM on Sunday, will not participate in matters relating to IPL and the spot fixing issue. The next hearing is scheduled on 7 October.