IPL 6: Cricket in a spot, yet again!

“Jiju and another bookie discussed that Sreesanth will give 14 or more in the second over. He won’t do anything unusual, but before the start of the second over he will stick a towel at the front of his trousers.”

As the officers of the Delhi Police unfolded the transcripts of the audio recordings between the bookies and the players, it bore a stark resemblance with the various con exposing scenes of the numerous crime thrillers that we have watched over the years. After reading out the transcript, the officer backed it up with the video clips of the matches and the scenes sent down shivers down the spine of every Indian cricket fan. The more we watched it, the more we were convinced. The text and the video juxtaposed scarily to a shocking revelation that shook the very foundations of the Indian Premier League.

Two’s company, three’s crime – keeping abreast with the statement, S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan delivered the latest blow to Indian cricket. Delhi Police arrested the trio of the Rajasthan Royals on charges of spot-fixing. Though it was a bolt out of the blue for BCCI, the fans around the world were all waiting for something like this to come to fore.

0.1.1.0.0.0 and 6.2.6.0.1.0 – Two overs from the same bowler. He conceded just two runs in the first over but was sent sailing twice into the stands in his second one. It had a very simple cricketing logic till last night – the batsmen were careful in the first and they went after him in the second. But today, there’s a complete change in perspective – it was fixed.

Fixing allegations and cricket have had a close relationship since the 1980s. Fixing raised its ugly head during the Sharjah era of cricket and went on to spill the beans on the careers of many famous names. However, after the famous “Cronje – tapes” that led to a massive investigation in 2000, the cricket world got back on its feet and match fixing was deemed to have been evicted completely. With the inception of the ICC anti-corruption squad, fixing an entire match became near impossible but as they say, greed never dies. The horrors of the 90s returned to haunt the cricket fraternity with an alias – spot-fixing.

How different is spot-fixing to that of match fixing?

Though the names sound different and they have different impacts on the game, there is something that’s common to both – a bunch of greedy individuals. While match-fixing is a much more difficult proposition to achieve, spot-fixing, thrives on the insecurity of an individual who is susceptible to greed.

To fix an entire match, one has to target the match winners who will have a direct impact on the game and since, the men who matter are at a much higher perch, the bookies target the lower hanging fruits of the tree. The likes of Chandila and Chavan hardly ever have a bearing on the result of a game and can slip under the radar with their shoddy displays. So, it is much easier to lure these insecure and hungry-for-attention individuals to tank their own performances in exchange for a few quick bucks rather than going for the big guns.

However, the sadness kicks in when names like Sreesanth, Ameer and Asif make it to the list. It a shame to see genuine talent go to waste and the above three are the prime examples of that. They not only fool cricket fans all over the cricket world but also their own selves by giving in too quickly.

If Ameer was young and foolish, Asif was too clever and Sreesanth just was not cut out to handle fame. The Indian fans laughed at Sreesanth’s antics, put up with his emotional rants, wowed at his brilliant out swingers, applauded his dance moves and even sympathised when he got slapped. But today, suddenly Harbhajan Singh seems to be the bigger man.

Fixed or not, guilty or otherwise, the Indian cricket fans should never forgive Sreesanth and the other two for the shame they brought on to the man named Rahul Dravid. This trio should have been influenced by the mere presence of Rahul Dravid, and his words in the dressing room should have been enough to strengthen their moral fibre. Instead, they brought this travesty upon a man who wore his integrity on his sleeve and played his cricket with grit, honesty and a lot of heart. He is one of those few cricketers whose dazzling career is unscathed by any tint scandal or sleaze and Sreesanth and co. should be banned forever for trying to taint it.

Will IPL lose its credibility? Well, it surely will if it hasn’t already. From now on, a batsman won’t savour a six because the bowler might have gifted it to him. A fielder would be mortified with a drop catch; a captain will not know who in his team has his back and the fans would simply not know what to believe!

“Sawal yeh nahi hai ke chor ne chori ki…sawal yeh hai ke chor ne chori kyun ki?” (The question is not that the thief stole but the question is why did he steal?) – A viewer came up with the question in one of the multiple TV shows that aired how one towel scratched off the memories of great bowling spell. The answer is simple, greed.

“The point is, greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.”

Gekko was right, greed works. But it works only for those who are greedy enough to learn, perform and take their skills to a higher level. With some quality cricket and special performances, IPL-6 had been different but thanks to the tainted trio, not anymore!