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Delhi: If we mention any ‘fake player’ i.e. ‘fake player’ in IPL, then first of all it would seem that there was some mistake in writing, because we have heard of impact player, but who is the fake player? Believe me, during IPL 2009, this ‘fake player’ had created such an atmosphere of fear and controversy that no one knew what would come to light when? Actually, inside information from the team camp was leaking on social media. It was not known who was doing all this, but it was assumed that some player was behind it and that is why he got the name of Fake Player.

There was no answer to the question of who was writing this blog. Initially it seemed that someone from the Kolkata Knight Riders camp was doing the wrong thing. The reason for this was the internal discord of KKR. The writer was writing accurate things, without writing the real names of the players. Sourav was writing Ganguly as ‘Lordy’ and Sachin as ‘Little Monster’. The reputation became such that people started believing in what was written. New controversies started by believing what was written in the dressing room conversation and debate on team selection.

Let us tell you that at that time the biggest suspicion was going on cricket pundit Akash Chopra. Ajit Agarkar’s name was appearing at many places. While all this was going on, during the IPL 2009 being played in South Africa, Kolkata Knight Riders sent Akash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar back to India from their team saying that they are no longer needed in this season. Due to this, the suspicion on Aakash Chopra as a fake player started appearing true and it was being said that the team management had come to know about his anonymous reporting. Sending him back to India in the middle of the IPL was his punishment and he was called a ‘black sheep’ within the team.

People were also taking a lot of interest in these blogs and were reading them, but as soon as the secret was revealed that the person writing all this was neither a player nor a coach or any insider, the interest in them also ended. Believe me, neither any player of any team nor anyone associated with IPL was doing all this. That blog was written by Anupam Mukherjee living in Bengaluru. This secret was revealed in 2010 and he also accepted that most of the secrets and stories written about cricketers were fabricated but were written in such a way that it seemed as if all this was happening. They were just creating sensation.

He was a marketing professional, his anonymous blog created a stir not only in the KKR team camp but in every team camp because the secrets of the dressing room were getting leaked. His praise is that he never met any cricketer, never went inside the team dressing room and yet for 6 weeks, he kept believing that he was associated with some team and was reporting on the turmoil he saw. Incidentally, the biggest mess was inside KKR. Captaincy was snatched from Sourav Ganguly, John Buchanan was creating new conflicts for the team with the theory of ‘Multi Captain’ and fans were burning effigies in Kolkata. That’s why the inside news, even though it was fabricated, looked very spicy. It was later revealed that all this was a lie.

The reason for the success of this blog was its funny style of writing. Team owner Shahrukh Khan was nicknamed ‘Vinny Dildo’. Wrote ‘Hungry Naan’ to John Buchanan. Team meetings, hotel parties, late night revelries and arguments in the team bus were written about. None of this was true but it all felt like the truth. Since KKR was losing, it looked even more messed up. With each defeat, the blog seemed to ring true.

The trend of leaking inside information seemed so certain that laptops were banned, internet connections were removed from players’ rooms, Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar were sent back home midway and coincidentally when they went back, new blogs also reduced. People started eagerly waiting for a blog. This was a new revolution.

When the truth came out, both BCCI and the franchise started thinking of legal action but did not take it. The blogger later also wrote a book titled ‘The Gamechangers’ which remained in the bestseller list that year. He had taken inspiration to do all this from a similar ‘Fake Steve Jobs’ blog outside India, but he had no idea that there would be so much uproar over what he wrote.