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Cheerleader fired from IPL as blog irks cricketers

JOHANNESBURG — A South African cheerleader has been fired from her Indian Premier League gig after writing a behind-the-scenes blog about cricketers misbehaving at post-match parties, media reported Wednesday.

Gabriella Pasqualotto said she is considering taking legal action after the Mumbai Indians sent her home following a complaint from an unnamed cricketer about her blog, “The Secret Diary of an IPL Cheerleader”, South Africa’s New Age newspaper said.

“I wrote what I experienced as a cheerleader. But I am considering taking legal action because I feel that I was fired over something small and silly,” Pasqualotto told The New Age.

“I also think that the situation was handled unprofessionally.”

In her blog for the web site thealternativecricketalmanack.com, Pasqualotto wrote about her experiences in India and the post-match naughtiness of cricketers, “the most loose and mischievous sportsmen I have come across”.

“Usually only after day matches there is an exclusive after-party and at night is when it all happens. The music pumps, the drinks flow and the cricketers come and go,” she wrote.

“The real fun happens in the VIP rooms where the players and night owls can cause scandal!

“Ol’ Graeme Smith will flirt with anything while his girlfriend lurks behind him. The Aussies are fun but naughty, such as Aiden Blizzard and Dan Christian.”

According to South African newspaper The Witness, the 22-year-old was one of 40 local women chosen for the IPL cheerleading squad that went to India at the beginning of April.

Pasqualotto told the newspaper that an Australian cricketer who was upset over her blog complained to IPL chairman Chirayu Amin, who ordered her manager to send her home.

“I was sent home as if I was a criminal. I was treated as if I had taken drugs or done something awful, and I was never offered an opportunity to give my side of the story,” she said.

Pasqualotto also writes on micro-blog Twitter as @IPLGirl, where she had more than 1,000 followers Wednesday morning.