Is cricket really a gentleman's game?

S. Sreesanth vs Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh – two bans too much!

Currently tainted S. Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh were involved in an ugly fight in the first edition of the IPL tournament in 2008.

In a group match played between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab, the latter had lost a close game and as a result lost quite a lot of matches on the trot. When the teams met each other to complete the post match formalities, Sreesanth’s few ‘polite words’ did not go well with the Indian off spinner and consequently, Harbhajan Singh slapped him in public.

Though Sreesanth denies that the off spinner had ‘manhandled’ him, but the people present there contradict the claim. This incident, quite naturally, took a lot of time to die down. Later on, Singh was found guilty of the incident and served an eleven match ban.

Well, the IPL also hasn’t been able to escape from controversies and IPL 6 was no less. The spot-fixing controversy of IPL 6 was given a lot of hype and several names also came into limelight, including players, team owners, celebrities and board members. Rajasthan Royals‘ players S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan were taken into custody as well as the team’s co owner Raj Kundra’s name was involved.

BCCI chief N. Srinivasan and his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan were also included in the list of people accused in spot fixing controversy.

This matter has still not been resolved, even though a few names like N Srinivasan, Vindoo Dara Singh and Raj Kundra have been cleared while a few players such as Ajit Chandila and Ankit Cheevan have been arrested.

These incidents are a few examples which illustrate the ‘real picture’ of what is happening on and off the field of cricket. They give us food for thought and raise the question in our mind that is cricket a gentleman’s game anymore? Is cricket being played in the true spirit of the game?

Well, after all incidents of sledging, match fixing and spot fixing, spectators have lost their trust over cricket and people are starting to change their views about cricket.