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October 04, 2000
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Old men and the sieve
Be it Kargil or cricket, there is this peculiarly Indian tendency to confine all idea of accountability to the lower-most levels possible — that too if it is utterly unavoidable to hold somebody accountable for something gone very wrong. That is why the outrage over the match-fixing revelations has so far remained confined to the Azhars and Jadejas, Prabhakars and Mongias and, of course, the several Guptas who seem to control the bookie mafia.
Why
don’t we, instead, pause to ask some other questions? For
example:
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If stars from each major cricket-playing country have been involved in match-fixing in recent years, what has the International Cricket Council (ICC) been doing meanwhile? Is it guilty of incompetence, self-delusion or straightforward complicity?
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l If India is now becoming to cricket what America is to baseball, in terms of cricket audiences and revenues, what has the BCCI been doing while cricket has been so thoroughly raped and ruined? What is the BCCI guilty of, incompetence, senility or, once again, straightforward complicity?
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If the rot was indeed as deep as it now seems to have been, what have the so-called BCCI investigators been doing so far? Will retired chief justice Y.V. Chandrachud throw some light on that please?
You do not need one more CBI inquiry to answer these questions. Just read the fine print in the report and take action. The CBI says the law book does not provide a case for prosecuting the allegedly involved cricketers, except the ludicrous idea that two of them, since they work for PSUs, could be tried as civil servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act. So what else can we do? Read what they say about the BCCI, and sack the rascals who run it. If all this racketeering has gone on in so brazen a manner, can you ever believe that no one in the BCCI knew anything about it? I’d rather believe some other, relatively less preposterous fiction, like Azhar has now learnt to play short-pitched bowling.
That is where accountability lies. The BCCI is one of the very few financially rich, autonomous sports bodies in India. Under them, not only has the sport been ruined in India, but in the entire world; and the country, instead of being established as the new home of world cricket, is now known to be the mafia capital of racketeering in the game. It is even more a pity this happened when an Indian — such as he is — was in control of the ICC.
It would be entirely unfair and shortsighted to just blame five players for the entire rot. Sports stars tend to be young, gullible and obviously people in a hurry to achieve fame and money. They are not particularly known for their maturity or intellect — at least none of the men now in question was. What was then the role, and responsibility, of the old men of the BCCI? Just to make money, lord over the cricketing empire in a manner so dictatorial it would make Pervez Musharraf look like a nice guy, victimise even associations from major states who as much as dared to whimper in protest and even drop their players from the national team, even if they were the only ones performing, and as now turns out, among the few straight people in the side — Kumble, Prasad, Dravid were all victimised. Jadeja, Azhar and Mongia connived to be brought back even if there was no justification to do so. Remember three tell-tale incidents and ask yourself the questions that arise naturally.
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Why was Ajay Jadeja taken to New Zealand in 1998-1999 and made to open the innings when he had done nothing to deserve that honour? His performance: 65 runs in four innings at an average of 16.25 runs. Sure enough, a suiting commercial featuring Jadeja appeared on TV screens each time he came out to bat. Except he spent so little time on the crease he did not allow them many repeats.
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Why did Raj Singh Dungarpur make his infamous slip of the tongue during the run-up to the 1999 World Cup suggesting that Azhar be retained as captain? Was someone worried that he may be replaced and, if so, what could be the compulsion to nix that possibility?
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Why were Azhar and Mongia recalled for the home series against South Africa earlier this year? There was no justification at least on the basis of performance. Did someone wonder why the rest of the team — certainly clean as far the CBI report goes — turned sullen so suddenly? It had to be a very unhappy Indian team to lose two matches in a row to South Africa on home-spun pitches and give Nicky Boje, who would find place in a C-grade Ranji side as a spinner, match figures of 7 for 93 in Bangalore. It was obvious the team was shattered from within. Each one of us could see it, except the BCCI. Or did someone have a premonition of the tide turning so decisively in the subsequent one-day series? Except that Delhi Police spoilt the fun by eavesdropping on Hansie Cronje’s phone calls.
You do not need another CBI inquiry to find answers to these questions.
Just think hard, then remember the sanctimonious rubbish that the BCCI
bosses have dished out in response to the revelations — let the
law take its course, etc. And if that fills you with revulsion and loathing,
ask for their dismissal. Even in these days of deregulation and privatisation,
this is one of those rarest of rare cases where a government takeover
— though temporary — is entirely justified.
THE CBI has told you about Azhar’s ‘‘confession’’
of the two matches he ‘‘did’’ for his bookie friend.
Such a pity that the CBI confined itself to its interrogations of players
and the bookies but did not ask some ordinary followers of cricket,
people like you and me. If they did they would have found a few more
questions to ask. For example, if they had just gone down a bitter memory
lane with me.
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Durban, February 13, 1997, the India-South Africa final of the three-nation limited overs tournament. Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly have built a great platform for India to cruise to one of their greatest away victories ever. Chasing 279 in 50 overs at a difficult-looking average of 5.60 runs an over. In a match that saw Dravid make 84 runs in his famous duel with Allan Donald, India at the end lost by 44 runs, with 64 balls to spare. But the thing to watch is two of our greatest middle order batsmen getting out as if they were chasing 44 in 30 balls instead of 64. Who were these batsmen? How did they get out? Please pull out these videos, freeze some frames, and you know what is going on.
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The India-West Indies match at Sharjah in December 1997 to decide who goes through to the final. Midway through India’s innings, chasing, one batsman is nearly run out twice, and finally run out. India lose, this particular batsman is dropped. Please pull out the video. Which batsman tried to run who out? What happened after the runout? Who was the batsman who actually deserved to be sacked?
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The Asian Test Championship match between India and Pakistan in February 1999 at Calcutta. After dismissing Pakistan for 185, India, at 147 for 2, are well on their way to building a large first innings total when Shoaib Akhtar unleashes two great inswinging yorkers to send back Dravid and Sachin. What happens after that? How did India fold up so quickly? Who hits the ball to a fielder as if in a catching practice session? What happens with the same batsmen in the next innings? Please pull out the videos. Freeze some frames and you will know what we are talking about.
One of our former national cricket coaches made a telling point. Don’t tap people’s phones. Don’t audit their finances. Don’t scrutinise their taxes. Just get the videos of the matches in which you think funny things happened. The eyes, the faces, tell the story. You’d know exactly when someone has decided it is time to get out. If you see these videos you do not have to read any CBI reports with their bad English. If the blind men of the BCCI refuse to see any of that, you know whose sack to demand. Nothing else would restore the credibility of Indian cricket.
Updated weekly.
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