Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, the Sports Minister

Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa has been a long-standing sports official in his north Indian home state of Punjab where he has headed the Punjab Olympic Association as president for a decade and a half.

He is also the current president of the Cycling Federation of India.

Pitched into the controversy within the first year of becoming president of the Indian cricket board, this suave, soft-spoken scion of a leading industrial family of southern India has been the public face of the Indian cricket establishment.

Unfortunately, this has done little credit to his own standing as an able administrator.

Muthiah, whose late father M.A.Chidambaram was president of the BCCI two decades ago, is the balancing factor in the faction-ridden Indian board. His personal clout enables him to take a firm stand on the controversies that often pop up.

He has been a steadfast advocate of not debarring any cricketer from selection until proven guilty of match-fixing, but has lately succumbed to pressure from the sports ministry to leave out tainted players.

It was Muthiah's message to the Indian selectors to pick the team on current form, overlooking objections from the team management or coach, which saw the return of Mohammed Azharuddin after last year's disastrous tour of Australia. The lacklustre performances led to Sachin Tendulkar's resignation.

The Indian version of the FBI is the country's premier investigative agency. It usually handles high-profile cases refered to it by other state investigating agencies and governments. It also coordinates investigation in India on behalf of Interpol member countries.

Presently headed by R.K.Raghavan - the CBI director whose passion for cricket has seen him turn his hand to radio commentary - the agency came into the picture when sports minister Dhindsa, under pressure from the Indian parliament, handed it the match-fixing probe.

The agency, which in the recent past has come in for flak for pressing bribery charges against several leading Indian politicians on flimsy evidence, has been guarded about levelling charges against cricketers.

In fact, the report specifically says the testimonies of bookmakers and their punters may not stand up in court without collaborating evidence.

CBI is the second investigating authority to probe match-fixing in India after Delhi police investigators found Hansie Cronje had been involved with bookmakers during South Africa's last tour of India.

Police in the capital have not been involved in the current investigation.