Sex, lies and videotapes: the death of cricket?

The Chandrachud inquiry was an eyewash. The Qayyum Report's findings were not implemented in their entirety. Shane Warne and Mark Waugh took money from bookies in exchange for information but got away largely unscathed. Manoj Prabhakar resorts to carrying hidden cameras to make his point. The King Commission has thrown up more names than anything in the past.

What is happening with the game?

At this stage it is impossible to say who is guilty and who is not. There are many fine lines being trodden. Is it pardonable to exchange innocuous information about the weather and the conditions at venues for large sums of money? Is it at all possible that somebody would pay a player a five digit dollar sum to get information he could freely obtain by accessing any one of a plethora of cricket sites on the Internet? So many questions that refuse to be easily answered.

Hansie Cronje puts his right hand up, says "so help me God" and begins to speak with what appears to be remorse about the mess he has gotten himself and South African cricket into. The South African authorities in a moment of rare generosity offer Cronje immunity from prosecution if he comes clean before the commission. If indeed he has altered the results of matches, Cronje has cheated the game of cricket. Not just the South African authorities. In that case, with what moral authority can the South African authorities grant immunity?

Herschelle Gibbs lies to the cricket world on Cronje's request. As a result, he is dropped from the national squad. Cronje does a volte face and begs forgiveness of Gibbs. He goes one step further and asks that Gibbs and Henry Williams be reinstated.

In his prepared 22 page speech, Cronje says that former Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin introduced him to a bookie when the South Africans toured India in 1996. Less than an hour later Azhar flatly denies any such thing ever happening. He goes to the extent of saying "I am looking at it as a disgraced cricketer's desperate bid to deflect attention." Strong words against a player he once held tremendous respect for. And the two can't both be right. Someone is obviously lying.

The Indian authorities meanwhile react in their usual nonplussed manner. Almost as though nothing will ever come of all this. Perhaps that is true in its own right. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has in the past taken many years to resolve issues. Even if they do manage to make headway in their investigation, the case eventually goes to the courts and languishes in the yards of red tape. Manoj Prabhakar, who has led the initiative to clean things up in India, speaking to a news agency, says "I want to ask why our Board (BCCI) is silent. Everyone commits mistakes but they should admit." Now, is that the subtlest admission in itself?

Saleem Malik threatens to sue a newspaper after they carry an article that links him to matchfixing. A few days later Cronje says he was asked by Pakistan captain Saleem Malik whether he had spoken to "John", who was established to be a bookie from the sub-continent. Cronje said that John had offered him money to fix a game. Cronje also adds, "It was evident to me that he (Malik) knew about the approach I had received."

As if all this wasn't enough, Shane Warne gets himself into a tangle with a British nurse. A sex scandal was all cricket was missing and that too made its way in as time slipped by.

Accusations. Counter accusations. Lies. Deceit. Cover ups. Cricket? Not quite.

Is it not time we seriously began to ask who was behind all this. Not the small time Johns and MKs. Instead of shooting messengers, isn't it time we figured out who was forking out the large sums of money to players? In depth investigations into the misdemeanors of individual players must no doubt happen. But it should end up as a classical case of missing woods for the trees.

As one former cricketer told me, "I'd like to believe that a majority of the players are clean." But what can one believe now? Either way, there's one thing that I'm damn sure about. I don't like what's happening to cricket. I don't like what's happening to my game.