In the light of the IPL spot-fixing controversy, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided that all player agents will need to be accredited. Steps would also be taken to monitor access to players apart from appointing an anti-corruption official will be appointed with each team and a security officer. The BCCI has appointed its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) chief Ravi Sawani as commissioner of an inquiry into the spot-fixing issue. Sawani will present his findings to the BCCI’s disciplinary committee, after which the Indian board will decide what action to take on the three players. All these actions have come too late in the day. Cricket which used to be known as a gentleman’s game has now degenerated into pure and simple gambling with players being paid to throw away their game instead of winning it. Surely this defeats the very spirit of the game. Sportspersons have always played to win, not to lose. Cricket is a team game requiring the best efforts of each and every player. But, if one or two or three players are paid not to play their best, what else is left of the game?
The BCCI chief Srinivasan has told the media that it is not the brief of the Board to ban betting on Indian Premier League cricket because the players are contracted to the franchise and that the ban ought to come from the lawmakers. Betting on sports, except horse-racing, is illegal in India. Since the controversy broke, there have been demands for legalising betting, but the BCCI wasn’t sure that would solve the problem. To track match fixing activities requires detective work of a high order which includes phone tapping and watching the movement of each player et al. While match fixing is not new, and the late Hanse Cronje and Mohammed Azharudding besides a few others made news when they were caught doing so, spot fixing appears to be the new trick for individual players in the IPL games. It is cheating of the worst form since each team earns money on winning the match and the IPL players are handsomely paid for playing for their respective teams! Cricket has now dipped to a new low and the audience is no longer gung-ho about it. A gentleman’s game has certainly gone awry.
