Cricket at the crossroads

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to disagree with the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Mr. A. C. Muthiah, when he says it is imperative that the mudslinging about cricket match- fixing is brought to an end. The slew of rumours and allegations about match-fixing has begun to assume an almost ridiculous dimension. With a CBI inquiry in place to investigate the bribery/cricket match-fixing controversy, it is only proper that any information about this phenomenon is turned over to the agency and not used to conduct smear campaigns. The manner in which members of the Cricket Board have been going at each other is farcical. India's cricket establishment is riven with politics and the fact that the match-fixing controversy has been used to settle personal scores and rivalries is a sad commentary on the game's mandarins.

Those critical of the BCCI's functioning have a legitimate point when they claim that, over the past few years, the body had adopted an ostrich-like posture when confronted with match-fixing allegations. The apparent determination to get to the bottom of the mess - reflected in repeated promises of cooperating with the CBI in every possible way - has come much too late in the day. The sorry truth is that if the Indian cricket establishment had taken a more serious view of the match-fixing phenomenon a few years ago, things may not have come to such a pass. The same can also be said of cricket boards in other countries and, of course, also of the International Cricket Council (ICC), which continues to adopt a somewhat hands-off attitude by suggesting that the real work of fixing the problem lies at the level of the national cricket boards.

However, the lapses of the past do not justify the excesses of the present. There is something very unpleasant about the manner in which some people - most notably the former BCCI president, Mr. I. S. Bindra - are washing cricket's dirty linen. As a senior cricket official, Mr. Bindra may be able to throw an enormous amount of light on the match-fixing phenomenon. Indeed, he would be obliged to share his knowledge about this when he is examined by the CBI. However, it was unwise of him to have publicly declared that Manoj Prabhakar had told him that he (Prabhakar) was offered money to throw an international match by no less than former captain Kapil Dev. Irrespective of the question of whether this charge is true or false, from Mr. Bindra's standpoint the information enjoys the status of mere hearsay. It would have been far more appropriate - needless to say, also considerably more dignified - if Mr. Bindra had shared this nugget of information privately with the CBI during the course of his examination. To have gone public with it was unwarranted in the circumstances.

The game of cricket is at the crossroads and some firm intervention is required to restore its sagging image. Following `Hansiegate', inquiries into the match-fixing phenomenon have been initiated in India and South Africa. There is a case for suggesting that other cricket-playing countries such as Australia and Pakistan also conduct probes in their own countries. In some ways, the ordinary cricket loving fan is the hardest hit by the match-fixing controversy. Confused by the welter of allegations and lost in the billowing clouds of suspicion, he is uncertain whether his heroes are in fact merely villains. One of the lasting images of this controversy is likely to be the sight of Kapil Dev breaking down on television when confronted by Mr. Bindra's allegation. Anyone who loves the game of cricket would wish that he would never have to see such a thing again.

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