Pandey disgraced: no world beater this

The last few weeks have seen cricket witness its greatest calamity since the bodyline series in 1932-33. Indian newspapers have dedicated headlines to coverage of the matchfixing controversy. Kapil Dev was recently dragged into the controversy. His weeping on national television has seen the whole country rise up in response. The media, it is said has an obsession with the morbid. At some time or the other every journalist is faced with sticky questions about the ethics in writing. The recent severe drought in India that has adversely affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of people all around the country has gone largely unnoticed. In a late rally, the media has deigned it fit to give the drought the attention it deserves.

Another travesty of justice that has so far slipped through the wide web of the media is what Uttar Pradesh cricket captain Gyanendra Pandey has been up to. Pandey was arrested earlier today for brutally assaulting his wife Pratibha. Neighbours of the Pandeys at Lucknow alerted Pratibha's parents about the event. It is reported that Pratibha's parents came over to Lucknow at the earliest possible and found to their anguish that she had a swollen black eye, a cut lip and had scratch marks on several parts of her body including her face, neck, chest and thighs. Although the gory details are usually best left unreported, the brutality of treatment in this case warrants attention.

A newspaper quoted neighbours as saying that Pandey dragged his wife up and down the stairs. The same neighbours, the paper reports, tried to intervene but were brushed away by Pandey. Pratibha Pandey is now receiving treatment at a hospital in Kanpur. The same paper also reports that Pratibha's parents took the Pandeys' two daughters, aged two and one, with them.

Speaking to a news channel, Pandey claimed that he was framed. Pandey goes on to name "professional jealousy" as the motivation behind the framing.

Reports suggest that the violence was a result of a dowry dispute. Responding to those claims Pandey said "I had a love marriage. As far as dowry demands are concerned, I have the fixed deposits and insurance policy in her name; I have those papers with me. I just want my wife and children back."

In this day and age, it is difficult to put anything past our cricketers. When New Zealand toured India late last year Gyanendra Pandey was a surprise inclusion in the squad for the one-dayer at Guwahati. Although he did not play a game in that series, I remember watching him bowl at the nets in Guwahati. Bowling to Ajay Jadeja, Pandey seemed more than happy to roll his arm over without much encouragement. Speaking to the pudgy left arm spinner was an experience that left one feeling that an affable character had finally got his reward for working hard in the domestic season. Pandey seemed like a jovial, friendly, harmless sort.

Did I say harmless? It's not for nothing that they say "appearances can be deceptive."