Book review: Fixed! Cash And Corruption In Cricket

Fixed ! Cash And Corruption In Cricket authored by Shantanu Guha Ray is the latest in the series of investigative books written on cricket in recent times. Launched in March earlier this year, it delves deep into the issue of corruption in cricket. Using specific incidents of corruption in cricket, the author seeks to establish the intricate links between bookies, businessmen, gullible players and cricket administrators.

The book starts with a chapter on the infamous 2013 arrest of three players during the IPL season and how it led to the uncovering of the larger corruption network that continues to haunt cricket till this day. Along the way, it elaborates on the bookies and their modus operandi to place bets and sometimes attempt to fix matches. Then there are chapters dedicated to incidents such as the mystery behind the murder of Bob Woolmer, the death of Hansie Cronje, the shame of England 2010 involving Butt, Amir and Asif, the Danish Kaneria incident, fixing in the Bangladesh Premier League and finally the IPL.

In each of these chapters, the author describes the actual crime in the beginning and traces back the series of disparate incidents that led to the fiasco. The narrative style stitches together the different incidents, some of which may be unconnected, gradually builds up a kind of suspense but I felt it somewhat fizzles out in the end and leaves the reader guessing as to what could have been.

The author cannot be blamed for that as he has attempted to present a story with every iota of available evidence rather than imagination and speculation. There are places where the author makes the reader feel sorry for players by describing their current state of being ostracised by their cricketing fraternity, case in point Danish Kaneria.

If you are a hardcore cricket fan, this book would leave you in some shock over certain incidents of cricket corruption which are suspected to have involved marquee players. That there was no evidence against them to prove their involvement is one thing, but the book makes you ask whether the law had decided to be lenient on the players and go after the administrators.

That very much seems to be the case if you consider the sealed envelope containing the names of the suspected parties that was submitted by the Mudgal Committee after its first round of investigation. The envelope was opened in November 2014 and for some reason, the law stopped short of naming the players. If the players were really corrupt with incriminating evidence against them, they should have been barred from playing in the 2015 World Cup. That did not happen gives a sense of mild relief that the players are clean.

Lodha Committee recommendations

The last few chapters have been dedicated for the Lodha Committee recommendations which have become the talking point in Indian cricket in recent times. Much as we feel happy to see the BCCI falling in line and working on the committee’s recommendations, there would still remain a mystery arising due to the involvement of politicians in cricket.

The book speaks about the involvement of ‘powerful politicians’ but stops short of naming them anywhere. While the Lodha Committee has recommended politicians stay away from cricket administration, the absence of stringent and powerful laws to deal with the chief perpetrators such as bookies and rich businessmen indulging in illegal betting provides a stronger case of having politicians to involve themselves first hand in cricket administration and suggest the introduction of the laws accordingly.

If the last 3 years; 6 years if you want to include the incidents of 2010; gave cricket fans a really hard time I would suggest you to read this book in order to understand how the various forces such as politics, business and the players are intertwined together to create glaring loopholes susceptible to be exploited for unethical gains.

I would also suggest reading the book IPL Story by Abhishek Dubey launched in 2010 which describes in detail the 2010 fiasco. Incidentally, Shantanu has taken a few inputs from Dubey for Fixed!. I would also suggest Cricket Czars by Alam Srinivas; a book that describes the life and methods of two of Indian cricket’s infamous administrators, Lalit Modi and N. Srinivasan. Read all three to get a holistic picture of cricket corruption and enjoy the thrilling shock.