"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time
plays many parts..."
(William Shakespeare From As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7)
So did Hansie Cronje, Mohammed Azharuddin and a few other men. They
played one too many parts. Success to them was far more than honour.
So many demons still hide behind the dark. And we all hope that the
light of the truth is much more powerful than the demons, in a world
that has almost lost its honour. Cricket a gentleman's game? Not
anymore. Blame it on money!
Kerry Packer brought the big money to this game. He turned cricket
into a circus. Gleefully we all watched the men in colourful pyjamas
hitting a leather ball all over the park. They changed the rules. They
made it a batsman's game. They wanted to see runs and not the game of
cricket. So they banned bouncers and put an inner circle, paving way
for a flow of runs. Everything had to be instant. One day cricket
became more than a fashionable thing. Nobody had the time. In this
material world time was money. Instant cricket became an instant
success. Sponsorships flowed in. We had big-time promoters negotiating
TV rights and other financial deals between TV companies and cricket
boards. Players wanted a bigger share of the spoils, because they were
professionals. At some point of time the same 'middlemen' teamed up
with the players. They all had heavy stakes in and out of the game.
After all, this was not cricket anymore, it was a profession of making
money. Players became conscious of their material value (they have a
promotional value too).
On television, the Indian commentator asks Sir Geoff Boycott, "Whom
would you put your money on?" And Sir Geoff says," it is too close to
call, so I'll keep the money in my left pocket!" Perhaps an innocent
conversation about the game, but the talking of the devil has always
been there. We could blame it on greed that seems to keep this world
spinning. Or perhaps on the middlemen, capitalism, or colonialism or
even the 'system' (which we all wish to change). The Hansies and the
Azhars of this world forgot one thing. As the great American President
Abraham Lincoln once said, ``You can fool some of the people some of
the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool
all of the people all of the time"
Justice with its long hand will catch up with the players and
administrators, who have brought shame to this game. No one is bigger
than the game. What we really need to learn from all this is, "Money
can buy it all, but never buy you integrity and honour."
There is an inscription by Akbar the great at Fatehpur Sikri, which
says it all:
"Thus spake Jesus, upon whom be peace, The world is a bridge, Pass
over it, but never build no house upon it"