The ghost of match-fixing simply refuses to vanish from the Indian cricketing soil. Of late, it has morphed into spot fixing.
Just when the thrilling last-ball finishes and boisterous crowds in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) matches made one believe that the muck in cricket had been cleansed and the deluge of match-fixing scandals the last 15 years is history, comes another corruption shocker.
In a sting operation carried out for nearly a year, undercover reporters of India TV have exposed alleged spot fixing and black money dealings in the fifth edition of IPL, sending shock waves across the cricketing world yet again.
The tragic part is this expose, telecast on Monday night, was that unlike previous scandals, the participants this time around are five young, budding cricketers just taking their nascent steps towards international stardom. Pictures of the youthful and terrific Pakistani pace bowler, Mohammed Amir, who was jailed a year ago on corruption charges, will now be replaced with the uncapped cricketers, Mohnish Mishra, T P Sudhindra, Shalabh Srivastava, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali, who have now gained notoriety.
Mishra of Pune Warriors has claimed that he was paid Rs 1.5 crore by the Sahara Group, of which Rs 1.2 crore was allegedly black money. He has subsequently withdrawn his statement. Another player claimed to have been paid Rs 10 lakh for a no-ball. The Board of Cricket Control in India has ordered a probe into the incident and those allegedly involved in the scam have been suspended for 15 days. Comments from a player that owners paid them money illegally is another new kind of corruption unheard of earlier.
The gentleman’s game in India has been rocked by scam after scam ever since 1996 when cricket administrator Sunil Dev demanded a judicial probe into the alleged involvement of a few cricketers in match fixing. The devastating expose in by Outlook in its June 11, 1997, issue in which former cricketer Manoj Prabhakar spoke of being offered Rs 25 lakh by a team member during the Singer Cup in Sri Lanka in 1994 to play a match in Pakistan’s favour stunned the nation.
Delhi police got wind of the matter three years later when eavesdropping on telephone conversations. The world of bookies existing across the world was unravelled in subsequent investigations. The magazine, also revealed that bets to the tune of Rs 300 crore to Rs 400 crore were placed on every international match involving India.
Indian bookies extended their reach to top international players and captains too. Malpractices for monetary gains have tarnished the reputation of top cricketers like Mark Waugh, Shane Warne, the late Hanse Cronje, Ajay Jadaje and Maurice Odumbe. The International Cricket Council was forced to institute an Anti-Corruption Unit to tackle the issue.
However, the issue of corruption just refuses to die down. There was even a line of thought a a couple of years ago that it would be better to legalise betting in India in order to save the sport. But it was shot down.
It is really unfortunate for the T20 format that just when it threatened to displace one-day and test matches, the corruption sword has begun to dangle above its head.
It remains to seen how the tentacles of corruption can be extricated out of this sport.
