Ganguly makes a valid point

Sourav Ganguly has hit the nail on the head. The 28-year-old Indian captain made a most pertinent point during his TV interview the other day. He asserted that no Code of Conduct can prevent betting and match-fixing. Ultimately it was a question of ethics, he maintained.

"At the end of the day, cricketers have to be honest. If that is ensured, nothing can happen," said Ganguly in the course of the interview when asked whether match-fixing could be prevented by the BCCI's Code of Conduct.

"No code can prevent match-fixing. The ICC and the Cricket Boards cannot keep track of each and every player. The cricketers have to be honest," he said. Perhaps that is easier said than done in the days when there is so much money to be earned both through right and dubious means. But there is an innate honesty in men and ultimately one supposes that the unity of the cricketers is the one factor that the bookies and the underworld dons will not be able to break. So it is a very valid point that the Indian captain has made.

Ganguly also struck a positive note when he said he could vouch for the 14 players now playing for India as "good and clean. They are good and they want to make a career in cricket," he added.

Ganguly said he never had any inkling that a match was being fixed. "As a cricketer, I never believed it. But now after what has come out in the CBI report, I feel anything can happen," he added.

Without mentioning those involved in match-fixing, Ganguly said he felt "sad" to hear the names revealed by CBI in its report on betting and match-fixing. "It's really sad to know that (their involvement in match-fixing) especially when you grow up looking up at them," Ganguly said.

Ganguly however denied that the scandal that has rocked the cricketing world, has in any way affected the team's performance. "We have to stick to our cricket and go on with it and not get bothered by what happened in the past," he said. The captain was all praise for the Indian team saying "this is a young team. The boys have done well leaving behind the match-fixing controversy."