By Sunil Gavaskar
What a gift from the blue the IPL
bashers have got with the arrest of three Rajasthan Royals players for involvement in illegal activities. It’s as if their Diwalis and Christmases have come together. Not surprisingly, they have gone to town and asked for the IPL to be banned, banished and what not. Most of these people make a living writing about the IPL that they loathe so much or being ‘experts’ on TV news channels.
Funnily, I have never heard them ask for parliament to be closed down for the scams that have been unearthed, nor that the police should stop policing because the odd cop has been found accepting a bribe, or for that matter the whole media to be stopped because some media guys were found extorting and trying to peddle influence in the corridors of power. So why then call for the IPL to be banned just because three players out of a possible 270 players [30 players for each of the nine IPL teams] were caught doing the unthinkable. There will always be those who will do the wrong thing in every society, so there’s no need for gloating in other countries either, for if theirs were such clean, honest societies, then why are there police and jails in their countries? There would be no need for that isn’t it if theirs were such law abiding societies!
What has happened is sad, for like always, just a few can malign the good name of everybody else. Nobody is perfect and we all are open to temptations so let us not get carried away with the hammering and instead think of ways to prevent this menace from striking again. The guys who should be at the forefront of this are people like Tendulkar, Dhoni, Dravid, Kumble, for they are still connected actively to the game and are at the ground to sense and feel things, and they will be able to help in devising ways that will help eradicate this menace from the sport. The scandal will no doubt overshadow the rest of the tournament but we mustn’t forget the great cricket we have seen so far. There have been some outstanding batting performances and some top bowling displays, as well as some astounding catches.
The Bangalore and Punjab teams will want to win for that gives them the chance to stay in the hunt for the fourth place even as Chennai and Mumbai would want to win so that they finish on the top of the table. So despite the happenings earlier in the week, we could be in for a Super Saturday indeed.