CBI Report puts players in the dock

The final report of the CBI (India) on Cricket match fixing and Related practices unveiled recently, has taken the cricket world by storm. Besides the ordinary mortals, the federal probe named 9 former Test captains having involved themselves in the evil practice at one time or the other. If true, it is a gigantic task carried out by the Investigating agency. The alleged involvement of players from almost all cricket-playing countries indicates that the evil practice prevails all over the globe. The inclusion of captains who are supposed to be the role models possessing the highest level of integrity is really disgusting. With some of the stalwarts having confessed the guilt and some admitted that they were offered the bait that they did not accept, one thing is sure that the evil does exist. It is up to the individuals as to how much temptation they can resist.

The match fixing poses a highly taxing conflict between loyalty to one's team and the country on one side and the floodgates of dollars opened on the other. The probe shows that even some highly reputed individuals chose to swim in the lucrative stream of dollars. In their exuberance to become rich overnight they ignored the fact that on some day they shall have to face the amount of disgrace, whose magnitude would be much bigger than the name money and fame that the game gave them. If found guilty and punished the shame would not let them rest in peace the whole life.

While the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is happy that after awarding due punishment to the suspected individuals it has settled the issue, the other Boards are facing an almost crisis situation. The Indian Cricket Board has, for the time being thrown all the accused players out of the national team, thus saving itself from the wrath of worldwide criticism. The players put in the dock by the CBI feel highly perturbed. Former captain Kapil Dev, who shed tears publicly when accused of the charge, is delighted not to find his name among the culprits. In an effort to defend himself, Ajay Jadeja described the report as 'concocted' saying, talking to bookies was not a crime. He called a press conference to plead his innocence that was disrupted by the police and the people. Though as a result of the ousted players India has no worries as far as the composition of its national team is concerned, it faces the onerous responsibility to conduct another probe to find out as to,' why all the bookmakers who induced the players from all over the world to indulge in the evil practice had to be the Indians'? Until a suitable explanation is offered, people will accuse India for being the exponent of match fixing trade and turning it into a money making international venture.

Among other actions and reactions, the report made the ECB Chairman Lord MacLaurin to eat his own words. Despite the fact that the Pakistani players were suitably punished, Lord MacLaurin insisted that Wasim Akram and his five associates should be suspended from the game. On the contrary the ECB remained absolutely dumb founded when the former England all rounder Chris Lewis alleged that in 1998 some English players were involved in match fixing. Now when a former captain Alec Stewart who is a member of the England squad touring Pakistan is also accused of accepting Pounds sterling 5,000 in exchange for information about pitch, weather, team composition etc, the team management has notified that ' Stewart will not be suspended from playing cricket for England and will remain with the team in Pakistan.' By no means England could be treated a country free from match fixing. A latest news report indicates that two County matches between Lancashire and Essex were fixed way back in 1991.

The investigators have not spared even a great player like Brian Lara, accusing him of accepting US $ 40,000 for playing badly in two One Day Internationals during the tour of India in 1995. Lara who is visiting Australia with the West Indies team initially denied the charge but now prefers to remain mum on the advice of his lawyer. Similarly the veterans from Sri Lanka former skipper Ranatunga and De Silva are accused of fixing an Indian victory in the Lucknow Test in 1994. While De Silva is said to have accepted US $ 15,000, Ranatunga denied having accepted bribes. Another international player, Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe whose name also appeared in the report, denied having any links with match fixing in India. Strangely enough Nayan Mongia pleads that he has been accused of fixing the matches that he did not play. Similarly Former Pakistan Captain Asif Iqbal who is settled in England since his retirement from the game has also denied involvement in the sordid affair.

The hue and cry by the players plus the denials are natural because the CBI report which is based on almost one sided version of the bookies is not free from discrepancies. No punishment is valid unless the accused persons are given the chance to defend themselves. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has taken the wise step of entrusting the job to Mr. K. Madhavan, Inquiry Commissioner of the Board to verify the facts. He plans to judge the CBI report by calling the players and recording their statements. A similar step has been taken by the Sri Lanka Cricket Board by appointing a one man commission of inquiry to probe the allegations of match fixing against two of its top cricketers who brought laurels to the country during their best performance days.

Though the cricket lovers desire a thorough cleansing of the game from such mal practices, they would neither like to throw players out of the field en mass nor the innocents to be punished. It is a highly sensitive issue, which needs to be handled with care by the cricket boards concerned.