Cricket – No More a Gentleman's Game , JUSTINPRINT, JUNE , 1-15-2013

Cricket – No More a Gentleman's Game www.justinprint.in

Why not life ban for corrupt politicians & officers too ; if it is for Sreesanth ? He just spot fixed a sport. They spot the NATION. Why different yardsticks? 

Dear Leaders, it is a trickle down theory. You cite good examples at the top & everyone else shall automatically improve. Yeh Hai India Meri Jaan...Do not think Sreesanth is worse than Pawan kumar Bansal ? Then why is Mr Bansal still roaming large ?

Indian Premier League players representing Rajasthan Royals namely Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan have been arrested by Delhi Police in Mumbai on spot fixing charges in IPL 2013. These players are going to be brought to Delhi and produced in Court.

Rajasthan Royals came up with a statement, which read, “We have been informed that three of our players have been called in for investigation on spot fixing in matches. We are completely taken by surprise. We do not have the full facts at this point and are unable to confirm anything. We are in touch with the BCCI on this matter. We will fully cooperate with the authorities to ensure a thorough investigation. The management at Rajasthan Royals has a zero-tolerance approach to anything that is against the spirit of the game,” reported The Hindu.

Sreesanth has been involved in many disciplinary issues while representing India. He has always been surrounded by controversies even in IPL. But, this spot fixing charges has to be the biggest of them all, which even puts his career in threat. If found guilty, it may even spell the end of his cricket career along with the other two arrester cricketers, as there is no place for corruption in any form of cricket.

India’s most popular sport, the old British game of cricket, is under suspicion for corruption in the form of “spot fixing” of scores. “Spot fixing” does not mean throwing an entire match. It’s all about collaborating among players on giving away runs. The game of cricket is much too complicated for me to comprehend, but there’s no misunderstanding the scope of an investigation in which players and bookies have been interrogated and arrested for “spot fixing” involving at least one team in the Indian Premier League. The story, moreover, promises to get a lot bigger.

It is so disturbing from an international viewpoint is obvious. “Spot fixing” is a racket that anyone on any team anywhere can play. The scandal in India, though, shows how the curse of gambling and fixing can spread before emerging for public display. Some of the lines in media reports might do well for scripts that the producers and directors of Bollywood, the prolific Indian motion motion picture industry, are sure to want to consider.

Every man and his dog has reacted to the spot-fixing saga which rocked the IPL. Everybody has promised stricter security and ruthlessness when dealing with the perpetrators. Cricket will always be a tender spot for those who really live it.The game is at crossroads. Whether it’s a corrupt board sticking their fingers various pies or whether it’s a few individuals taking dirty money, cricket is riddled with threats. And while it’s unlikely that those threats will ever be eliminated in their entirety, it’s important that they are restricted.

Betting on anything other than horse racing is illegal in India, and the saga has prompted India's law minister Kapil Sibal and sports Minister Jitendra Singh to ponder a new bill to be introduced to combat the problem. The pair have been studying the way betting is dealt with in the United Kingdom and Australia, and this information will be shared with the Law Ministry in the next session of Indian Parliament.

The three arrested players were not unknown cricketers, especially Sreesanth, who has represented India at the highest level in all the formats. The other two players have also been a good players at the domestic level. India loves its cricket and such kind of corruption in the sport will only decrease the popularity of the game. In the process, it is the game of cricket, which suffers vehemently.

It's not as if the BCCI has not taken action in the past. It banned players such as Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Sharma, Manoj Prabhakar and Ajay Jadeja with the first two being handed a life ban and the latter two given a ban for five years each. It was only last year that Azhar's ban was overturned and Jadeja's in 2003.

Lots of money is involved in the IPL with big corporate investing in this product. Cricket is a unique game where in addition to the laws, the players have to abide by the "spirit of the game", but gone are the days when the players used to play in the spirit of the game.  The standard of sportsmanship has historically been considered so high that the phrase "it's just not cricket" was coined in the 19th century to describe unfair or underhanded behaviour in any walk of life.

Fixing matches, or at least placing bets on them as a series of festival tournaments take place across the country, is not new but the act being carried out on the streets has become a favourite pastime for many. While betting – placing money on their predicted winner – is common, cash for underperformance has now hit the streets.

There is also the abiding myth that if India legalises sports betting, then the problem will vanish and fixing and player bribery will be sorted out forever. Corporate bookmakers, it is argued, will have no incentive to rig matches and tempt players. Should they do so, they will lose customers and market credibility. This sounds right in theory but, again, ignores how contemporary fixing works. Essentially, the template has changed enormously since the Cronje-Azharuddin era.

In the 1990s, fixing was straightforward: you paid a cricket team to lose a match. The captain - maybe both captains - was essential to pre-deciding the result of a game. To ensure success, you had to coordinate buying off a number of influential cricketers playing a particular match. Sometimes a bribed cricketer may not have known that his team mate too had been paid money by the same syndicate.

Whether it is match-fixing or spot-fixing, it brings disgrace to the game of cricket  As cricket has a huge fan following in the sub-continent and the latest scandal involves players of the sub-continent, the cricket authorities here need to worry a lot. The popularity of the game may not diminish because it has essentially become celebrity-centred. But the credibility of the game is eroded and this is serious.

Cricket is popular across the world and youngsters consider international players their role-models. When they are accused of foul play, it is not just their career that is affected. It also sends a wrong message to aspiring cricketers. The spot-fixing scandal has cast doubts on the integrity of cricket players, given that huge amounts of illegal money is floating in the betting market. A few individuals have demeaned the game due to their greed.

It's not difficult to extend that into a reasonable assumption that matters like integrity and always giving your best on the sporting field were part of their upbringing. Corruption in most countries is simply part of life. Western society works differently, that is plain to see. Ridding cricket of match- and spot-fixing is a much deeper issue than simply bringing in laws and harsh penalties against it. The good ol' sledgehammer to crack a nut approach will not work.

Siddhartha Shankar Mishra,

Sambalpur, Odisha