Gentleman's game to fixer's game : A question of a wide or a no ball
- Sangai Express Editorial :: June 04, 2013 -
A game played by 11 fools and watched by 11 thousand greater fools. This was cricket to George Bernard Shaw, a giant in his field in his own right.
Whether one subscribes to this view point or not is a different matter, but what has increasingly become clear is that today there must be at least 11 million people who have been fooled by some of the 11 players on the pitch.
Match fixing, spot fixing, bookies have all come together to fool the 11 million or so cricket fans not only in India but across the world.
Sreesanth, the one time enfant terrible of Indian cricket, a fast bowler with a temperament to match, will have now have something much more than to exorcise the ghost of 'slap gate' in which he was at the receiving end, courtesy Harbhajan Singh, another bowler, albeit a spinner, but with a temperament to match too.
Pictures of a sobbing Sreesanth, many years back, may now be well replaced by pictures of the fast bowler delivering a wide or bowling a no ball at crucial times of a match.
Truly more than enough dirt has been kicked up and with more under the scanner, including a key figure of the Chennai Super Kings franchise in the docks, things can get only murkier.
The transition from a "Gentleman's Game" to a "Fixer Game" has been complete. At the moment, T20 is the new flavour of cricket. It is fast, it is result oriented and every ball delivered is packed with action.
Throw in the glamour part and the packaging of the game is complete. This could be one reason why the focus on the underbelly of the game is on this format at the moment, but one should also not forget that 'match fixing' too had rocked Indian cricket in 1999/2000 when two players were penalised or found guilty of fixing matches.
Obviously big money must be involved, but to look at the dirt and muck surrounding the 'Gentleman's Game' only through the prism of the T20 format would be missing the trees for the woods.
Given the big money involved, the stars, the huge viewership, the astronomical money prizes as well as the very format of the game, T20 would obviously be more easy and more lucrative to 'fix' when compared with the longer versions, such as the ODIs, comprising of 50 overs each or the five days tests.
This is how the term 'spot fixing' has gained currency. In a game where each side is given to bowl only 20 overs, a wide or a no ball at the crucial moment may change the complexion of a match entirely.
Not at all a complex or a difficult thing to do. Manipulating the format of the game to make a quick buck, this is what it is all about.
The muck surrounding the IPL predates the current spot fixing scandal. Remember Lalit Modi, the one time Man behind the IPL exiting from the centre stage in disgrace some years back ?
An authority on cricket and obviously a passionate fan of the game, eminent writer and historian Ramachandra Guha has already gone ahead and made a strong pitch to do away with the IPL.
His reasoning, in brief is, the IPL has not done anything good for the game of cricket in India.
A closer look may however be in line here. Has the IPL muck racked up such an issue since cricket as a game has no peers in terms of popularity in India ?
How about the doping scandals in other sports or disciplines ? Can the 'fixing' scam in the IPL or in cricket be seen in isolation of the all pervading corruption culture across the country ?
The Commonwealth Games scams, involving crores of rupees cannot be written off.
It is in this climate that Sreesanth and some other players have been found supping with the bookies, to deliver a wide or a no ball at crucial stages of a match and it is only right that the overall ambience in the country is taken into account too
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