Muthiah's defence of players laudable, but...

A man is innocent till proved guilty. AC Muthiah has adopted this adage to the letter while making the announcement about players, allegedly involved in match fixing, being available for selection to the Indian team. It is also perhaps right and proper and predictable that the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India should stand by his players. But Muthiah's defence of the `tainted' cricketers does not solve the problem as to whether they should be selected or not to represent the country.

Muthiah was quite firm in his stand on Sunday. ``If players are selected purely on merit, they cannot be dropped unless the charges against them are proved. There has to be some evidence of the players' involvement in match fixing. Let the investigating agencies find them guilty and I promise you the Board will take very strict action against these players. How can we drop any individual just because his house has been searched by the income tax officials.'' He went on to add that the board will not only ban a guilty player for life but also remove his records from the books and recommend that awards given to him be taken back.

This was the board president's long awaited reaction to the Sports Minister SS Dhindsa's statement that players against whom there were match fixing allegations should not be picked for the national side. Dhindsa's stand also received support from the Union Minister of State for Sports Shahnawaz Hussain.

Muthiah's forthright stance was, in a way, welcome. It was so refreshingly different from the puerile and `foot in the mouth' statements issued by the Board secretary JY Lele. But the fact remains that there have been serious charges - baseless or unproven - against some players, as well as the national coach. They are all in the dock, so to say. And unless they are cleared, they should not play. So goes one serious school of thought. And it is a stand that cannot be just dismissed. After all, income tax officials - as also the Minister of State for Finance Dhananjaya Kumar - have stated categorically that the raids have provided `clinching' evidence of the cricketers' involvement in match fixing.

My own feeling is that the `tainted' cricketers should not be picked but for a totally different, very practical, reason. Confronted by serious problems, a human being is not generally in the right frame of mind. One supposes the analogy extends to the playing field. A sportsman has to be mentally and physically well prepared in order to give off his best. Upset by emotional problems - anything from personal losses to serious charges to income tax raids - it is difficult for a player to perform up to his potential. In the prevailing circumstances, one has to seriously doubt whether the players' capabilities will not be affected. It must not be forgotten that this in turn will certainly have a bearing on the team's fortunes.