Cairns Awarded £90,000 In Damages In Libel case

Chris Cairns, former New Zealand all-rounder, won the libel case against ex-IPL chairman LalitModi here at Rotal Courts of Justice in London on Monday.

Cairn had in first of its kind cased pressed libel charges on Modi, who had through a tweet accused Cairns of match fixing in Indian Cricket League (ICL) a rival tournament to Modi’s Indian Preimer League (IPL). Modi had cited that Cairns was not considered for auction in IPL for this very reason. Chris Cairns took the matter to the court citing that such baseless allegation had reduced to “dust’ his contribution to cricket in general and the New Zealand cricket in particular.

The judgement of the case was given in the favour of Cairns as LalitModi failed to provide an substantial and reliable evidence that could prove Cairns’ role in match fixing. "It is obvious that an allegation that a professional cricketer is a match-fixer goes to the core attributes of his personality and, if true, entirely destroys his reputation for integrity," the judge said. "The allegation is not as serious as one of involvement in terrorism or sexual offences. But it is otherwise as serious an allegation as anyone could make against a professional sportsman."

Cairns said after the verdict was announced that "Today's verdict lifts a dark cloud that has been over me for the past two years, I feel great relief that I am able to walk into any cricket ground in the world with my head held high."