I was planning to write on some different topic today but the news flashing on TV at the moment compelled me to change it. Since I have been actively writing about IPL, it is must for me to make a point on this. As the news are appearing on TV, three players of Rajasthan Royals including Sreesanth have been arrested for Spot fixing. As is mentioned in the news, the police have very strong evidence to support the arrest of these players and there might be some more players including International ones who are involved in this crime.
Worst and most unexpected part of the news is that the three players involved belong to Rajasthan Royals headed by one of the sincere and decent players in Cricket, Rahul Dravid. Rajasthan Royals other wise have been among the top teams in the list of Fair play awards. These arrests have totally shattered their image in audience's eyes.
What makes me write this post is a question, whether players are really this dumb to get involved in such rackets or they are forced to do so probably by Underworld. After what happened recently with the three Pakistani players that finished the Cricket Career of involved players, I wonder how these upcoming players don't learn any lesson. What could be the reasons that make these players involved in such rackets. From where I stand I can see three reasons:
1) A greed to make some quick bucks with out taking any extra efforts.
2) Considering a probable end of their Cricket career, they try to make the best out of any opportunity they get.
3) Coming under pressure from Underworld trying to get a control over games.
If it is either of first two reasons, then I will call the player a real dumb. As the news suggest, Police has evidence of their communication on mobile and land line with these bookies and transaction details in their respective bank accounts. Really, are you this much dumb to leave such clear evidence behind? It only suggests that all upcoming players whether of Cricket or for any other game need to made aware not only of such threats around and also the ways it can be tracked. So, the players can either get smart enough not to get involved in these rackets or they better know that their crimes will ultimately be revealed at some point of the time.
If it is third reason, then I do not know how can it be sorted out. Big players can probably avoid this but these new and upcoming are really vulnerable. BCCI might have made arrangements to curb this problem but it might not be enough to protect these new and other wise inexperienced players.
Among the three names revealed, Sreesanth is a known name. He has represented India in many games. He comes with so much aggression on the field, that not only the opponent, but even his team mates get frustrated while controlling him. I wonder how he got involved in this fixing. Was it a fear of probably finishing Cricket career that made him take this erratic step or some other reason. As news reveal, this issue finds connection with Underworld from Dubai and Karachi. So, there is a probability of such acts done under pressure.Other two players doesn't have experience have international cricket and probably its their inexperience that brought them to the doors of bookies.
I feel sorry for these players and for all those players who in some or other way are involved in such activities. I just hope other players now learn some lesson and this turn out be the last non sense act by players.
14 comments:
It's shame on the nation; shock to Indian cricket lovers.
It indeed is. I keep wondering how these players don't learn from others mistakes.
They should just be banned and removed , i think greed it is
Just plain GREED.
@magiceye and Ali: I wonder how much is enough to keep greed under control.
Reasons might be any and many .. pawns can be the knight or vice versa .. bottomline the fanship from the game will suffer sooner than later .. be it Sreeshanth or the guys who were put on question prior to this or even the Pak players held guilty .. the choice has been individual and no matter how much an underworld or over world pressurize ... everyone can be a Dravid or Sachin..
It is greed and lust and fear which brings corruption in minds and acts !!
This happened with Azhar and Jadeja as well !
BCCI can curb this greed down in no ways because its is one of the reasons why cricketers have become greedy !!
KaJo ... ethics and principles in life come from moral values ... and the fact is India has lost moral values be it commoners or celebs !
@mysay: Your words,"It is greed and lust and fear which brings corruption in minds and acts !!" pinpoints the whole scenario.
ipl has become a playground for easy money.i say,a form of cricket like ipl should be banned.here ,in this players do not play for their country ,instead they play for some tycoons who eye for easy money through marketing of cricket instead of nationalising it as a game.
@Gunjan: I won't totally agree on this with you. Agreed, that there is lot of money involved centered around few people, but BCCI is much stronger than any of those and it indeed is keeping all the controls with itself. Also, look at the way it is benefiting the upcoming players to show their talent or those players who have passed their peak years to play for Country and would never get a chance. As far as this Spot fixing issue is concerned, as Mr. Shrinivasan said their could be one or two rotten eggs, doesn't mean whole IPL is bad. Also, IPL started just 6 years back, but we already have cases of Azahruddin, Jadeja and Prabhakar revealed more than 15 years ago( who played solely for their Country).
Whether it is greed or the player milking his last moments of glory to make some money on the side, the fact remains that the incident added some more muck on the brand IPL.Decent sportsmanship..is this slowly becoming a thing of the past? I shudder to think. Nice write up Kaustubh.
@mynascence: I hope that is not the case. I believe sportsmanship will always be alive, sometimes little though. Thanks for appreciating the post.
Well...these are not any new phenomenon...and i believe if things are taken up seriously then...they will find players from other franchises as well ...!!!
To be frank what has happened is not surprising for real followers of the game.In IPL,unfortunately there are loopholes that encourages corruption or in other words system can be manipulated easily.You see there is no anti corruption wing of ICC or ICC match referee working here to keep a watch on proceedings,you meet lot of people in after match parties.So basically there are no restrictions like International cricket matches.Hence it is pretty obvious that these players took things lightly that they will not be caught.This is purely greed in my opinion, if there was pressure from underworld then those threats would have been directed towards other players too and some of them who are honest would have complained then.Anyways these players did so because in IPL chances of getting caught are almost nil,so many close matches happen here regularly and its hard to raise question and make out which players is trying to under-perform.Overconfidence of these players backfired in my opinion.
@CreativeUrja: What you said are the facts and surely there are minimal restrictions on players during IPL. How to curb it is a big problem in front of BCCI. Probably they find it easy to let it happen and once Police finds out, just suspend those players. No extra work burden on BCCI
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