IPL is too powerful for long-term good of cricket; it provides perfect opportunity for fixing: Ian Botham

Former England Test Cricket and captain Ian Botham has said that the Indian Premier League (IPL) is too powerful for the long-term good of the game and has called for it to be scrapped.

Botham is of the opinion that the IPL provides the perfect opportunity for betting and therefore fixing and also believes that players are slaves to it.

Botham said that he is worried about the IPL, in fact, he added that he feels it shouldn't be there at all, the BBC reported.

The former England skipper said that IPL is changing the priorities of world cricket.

The IPL, the world's richest cricket tournament, was first staged in 2008 and is renowned for paying large salaries to competing players. The annual tournament has been dogged by allegations of spot-fixing and illegal betting, and in April of this year India's Supreme Court asked the country's cricket board to investigate the claims.

Botham added that how on earth did the IPL own the best players in the world for two months a year and not pay a penny to the boards that brought these players into the game.

He feels that corruption is enough of a problem in itself, but the IPL compounds that problem given it provides the perfect opportunity for betting and therefore fixing.

Botham said that to kill the serpent, one must cut off its head. He added that the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit must pursue the root of the problem and if necessary expose the big names.