At the time when we all thought that the IPL has evolved and finally settling in a mould where we have seen some very close finishes and some breath taking hitting in past few days, the disaster struck. The spot fixing has raised its ugly head once again and this time the culprits are:
- Sreesanth
- Ajit Chandlia
- Ankeet Chavan
The first of them is a world cup winner. For all things he might do from now on or he might have done in the past in his cricketing career, that tag of world cup winner was best he had. And not one, but 2. He also had a reputation of one of the few pacy bowlers in Indian setup and the one who had talent to swing the match single handedly when he desired.
But he also had lot of tantrums and idiotic acts up against his name, most famous of which was the Slapgate. But what he did in IPL-6 is nothing in front of his achievements and his idiotics. He bloody well fixed a game of cricket in IPL-6, playing from a team captained by none other than Rahul Dravid. Really ? Was he so short of money that it needed him to get in touch with the bookies and do spot fixing ? Didn't his team qualify for play-offs already and he would have received a share of prize money, no matter what place the team ended finally. Not to forget the contract money for playing in IPL. Still ? And despite knowing what happened to the 5 idiots last year and to international players like Salman Butt, Asif and Mohd Amir from Pakistan ? Did he forget that this is the age of technology and nothing can go uncovered.
Delhi police might be inept in stopping crimes against women, but they are leaders of the pack in picking up the fixing -- spot or match irrelevant. Neeraj Kumar might have saved his job after all the flak he received from the December 16 crime and the latest one last month against a 5 year old. But that's irrelevant here. He displayed everything he had with him as proof to show the involvement of the 3 idiots of Rajasthan Royals team, which had been romantics' favorite, given the way Rahul Dravid has led the team so far.
Without a doubt he has been devastated. He has been the man of ultimate honor, integrity and respect. Playing under him and getting a chance to come back in the national fold was the best thing to happen to this Kerala player and he blows it all away. Indeed he is Appam Ch*****. Even bigger than that. He should be banned for life and not allowed to step on any cricket field. He deserves the harshest punishment that will serve as a deterrent to the players in future.
Ankeet Chavan, I read somewhere, was leading Mumbai spinner in their 40th Ranji triumph and he was the go-to man of the bookies involved in this scandal. Ajit Chandalia, another bigot who earned the distinction to dismiss Sachin and Ponting in a single game and also had an hattrick last year, is the 3rd in this list. None of them should be spared.
BCCI's reaction has been disappointing as well. And they keep ranting "zero tolerance", "everybody guilty will be punished". Biggest question they need to be asked is after all the sting of last year's IPL, how come spot fixing again happened in this year's IPL right under its nose ? Perhaps Srini was busy scoffing at other IPL owners to pave a way for his team to win it again this year. He has been already termed as "most destructive figure " in world cricket after the Sivramkrishnan - FICA episode. And there is little doubt that he will do anything to clean up this mess.
Lalit Modi has harped on twitter about this episode and he would enjoy this no doubt whatsoever after the way he was ousted in 2010.
Shashi Tharoor has termed Sreesanth as "pride of Kerala " and "innocent until proven guilty". Of course he will find all sorts of excuses to term Sreesanth as a martyr and gain some political mileage out of this. He is a part of the government, which is the most corrupt and inept in the history of Independent India. So yes, this type of stereotypical statements are expected.
The need of the hour is an extensive cleanup operation of Indian cricket, find the guilty players, deal with them very strictly, ban them for life, throw them in jail, demolish the bookie network (wishful thinking) and moreover, the most important thing, develop an educational framework for young uncapped Indian players to keep them away from corrupt practices and any luring offers from the bookies. Also help them report any such instance to the authorities without their career and position being compromised.
Having said that, this is India. The country which strongly believes in "Chalne do" attitude. So expecting any fruitful action out of this shocking saga will be waste of time and wishful thinking. And if only Shilpa Shetty and her husband would have kept tight leash on their players instead of jumping jhapak and dancing on every single 4 or 6 or a wicket, a lot of this embarrassment to Rahul Dravid could have been avoided.
