Sangakkara Says It's 'Addressed' — Everyone Else Says It's a Joke

Two days ago, Riyan Parag was caught on live broadcast pulling from a vape pen in the Rajasthan Royals dressing room. In a country where the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2019, makes the very possession of such devices a criminal offence punishable by up to six months in prison. The footage went viral. The outrage was immediate. The BCCI was forced to act.

Their response? A 25% match fee fine and one demerit point.

Let that sink in. A captain of an IPL franchise was filmed committing what is, under Indian law, a criminal act — on the league's own broadcast, in front of millions — and the punishment is a fraction of one game's cheque. Parag admitted to the offence, accepted the sanction from match referee Amit Sharma, and walked away. Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct — "bringing the game into disrepute" — was the best they could find. Not because the code is strong, but because it doesn't even contemplate what Parag did.

Enter Kumar Sangakkara. Sri Lanka's greatest ever batter. A man of extraordinary poise and intellect. And a man who, when asked about his captain vaping on live television, chose the path of least resistance.

Sangakkara conceded that the controversies were "not a positive reflection" of the franchise. Then he pivoted. Hard. The vaping? "Addressed." The fallout? A reminder to players about their responsibilities. The captain's form? Excellent, actually — let's talk about that instead.

It was a masterclass in press conference deflection. Sangakkara praised Parag's captaincy, advised him to separate his batting mindset from his leadership role, and offered this gem of tactical wisdom as though the biggest story around his captain was a batting slump rather than a criminal offence on national television.

Here's what Sangakkara didn't address: this isn't an isolated incident. Less than three weeks ago, RR team manager Romi Bhinder was fined ₹1 lakh for using a mobile phone in the dugout during the match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 10. That's two code of conduct violations from the same franchise in under a month — one financial, one criminal.

A culture of responsibility, as Sangakkara described it, doesn't produce two separate disciplinary incidents in 18 days. A culture of accountability doesn't result in your captain casually vaping between teammates on a live broadcast as though the cameras don't exist. Either the players don't know the rules, or they don't care. Neither option reflects well on the coaching staff that insists the matter has been "addressed."

While Sangakkara tried to turn the page, advocacy group Mothers Against Vaping ripped it out entirely. Their statement was pointed, specific, and designed to make the BCCI uncomfortable.

They demanded a formal inquiry. They cited the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2019, which bans production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage, and advertisement of e-cigarettes. They noted that violations can attract imprisonment of up to six months or a fine of up to ₹50,000, with higher penalties for repeat offences. And they asked the question that the BCCI's 25% fine conveniently avoids: was this "a deliberate law-defying act, a reckless mistake, or a calculated attempt at publicity around a banned product"?

That last option is the sharpest. In a league where controversy generates clicks, where every dressing room moment is broadcast content, and where a 21-year-old captain's rebellious image is part of his brand — is it possible that the vape clip was, on some level, content? Mothers Against Vaping isn't accusing Parag of marketing. But they're forcing the BCCI to confront the possibility that its own broadcast infrastructure enabled what amounts to an advertisement for an illegal product, watched by millions of children.

The most revealing detail in this entire saga is what the BCCI's own officials admitted behind the scenes: there is no defined punishment in the IPL code of conduct for what Parag did. The code covers sledging, dissent, slow over-rates, on-field altercations, even celebrations deemed excessive. But a player using an illegal substance on camera in the dressing room? The rulebook simply never imagined it.

That's why the BCCI is now "seeking legal opinion." Not because the law is ambiguous — the PECA 2019 is clear that possession is illegal — but because the IPL's own internal governance framework has no mechanism to deal with it. They had to shoehorn the offence into Article 2.21, a catch-all "bringing the game into disrepute" clause that was designed for bad behaviour, not criminal conduct. The 25% fine is the maximum Level 1 sanction available. To go higher, they'd need to escalate to Level 2 or beyond — and that requires a process they're only now figuring out.

This is what happens when you build a ₹16,000 crore league and forget to update the rulebook for 2026 realities. The IPL's code of conduct is a relic — a document that treats mobile phone use in the dugout and illegal substance use on broadcast as problems on the same spectrum. They are not.

Riyan Parag walks out to bat tonight at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. His Rajasthan Royals, sitting fourth with 12 points from nine games, host Axar Patel's struggling Delhi Capitals. The cricket should be the story. RR snapped Punjab Kings' unbeaten run last time out. DC have lost three straight. The match-up is fascinating.

But the cameras won't just be watching Parag bat. They'll be watching him in the dugout, between overs, after dismissals. The broadcast that caught him vaping will now be searching for what comes next. That's the cost of "addressed" — a word that closes the conversation inside the dressing room but opens it everywhere else.

Sangakkara wants his captain batting "without any pressure, any expectations." That ship sailed the moment Parag put a vape to his lips on live television. The pressure tonight isn't about Delhi's bowlers. It's about whether a 21-year-old captain in the middle of a legal, disciplinary, and public relations storm can compartmentalise all of it and play cricket. If he can, it'll be the most impressive innings of his IPL career — regardless of the score.

Strip away the PR statements, the advocacy group letters, the press conference deflections, and you're left with one uncomfortable question: does the IPL actually care?

The league generates over $1 billion in annual revenue. Its broadcast deal is worth $6.2 billion. Its franchises are valued at over a billion dollars each. A 25% match fee fine on a player earning ₹7.5 crore for the season is, quite literally, rounding error. It's not a punishment — it's a receipt. A transaction that says "we noticed" without ever saying "we'll stop it."

The BCCI says it's "exploring other options to initiate proceedings for stringent action." That language — bureaucratic, passive, non-committal — tells you everything. They're not exploring action. They're exploring how little action they can get away with before the news cycle moves on. Sangakkara knows this. The Rajasthan Royals know this. And Riyan Parag, walking out in Jaipur tonight with nothing more than a quarter of one game's salary docked, definitely knows this.

Mothers Against Vaping asked the BCCI to "send an unmistakable message that the law and the health of India's children come first." The BCCI's unmistakable message, so far, is that a 25% fine and a firmly worded statement is the ceiling. In the IPL's accountability theatre, the show must go on — and tonight in Jaipur, it will.