CBI8217;s googly

The day might come when India would give up English, but not cricket,8221; opined C. Rajagopalachari so very presciently all those years ago. Well, India may have in any case persisted with her social contract with the English language through five decades and more, but it has taken the sordid match-fixing saga to conclusively demonstrate the cricketing part of Rajaji8217;s prediction. It is a message delivered most emphatically in the 162-page Central Bureau of Investigation report released to the nation this week. And the message is this: for all the talk of spectator disenchantment, cricket 8212; and more importantly, the exploits of cricketers and others who have hitched their wagons to this game of what may now be termed glorious certainties 8212; cannot be replaced as a prime time obsession in this country. Or put a little less flatteringly, for all the talk of the cricket spectator being king, he appears to have little choice, as if he has been genetically programmed to be entertained by major and minor twistsand turns in the sport. That is, the CBI report may have more than hinted at the unimaginable 8212; that even groundsmen have been netted by the bookies 8212; but the romance with cricket is far from dimmed.

Survey the story thus far. In the opening months of the new century Hansiegate provoked epitaphs for the funny old game akin to V.S. Naipaul8217;s famous declaration, 8220;Cricket is absurd, dead, a game of the 20th century, not the 21st.8221; But did the demise occur? After some very comprehensive, and equally damning, circumstantial evidence pointing to a tight cricketer-bookmaker nexus, did the passionate millions firmly boycott telecasts of cricket matches in far-off Nairobi and Sharjah? Not at all. The Ajay Jadejas and Nayan Mongias may have been shamed out of the arena, but only to be replaced by a fresh crop of heroes, the Yuvraj Singhs and Zaheer Khans. Mohammed Azharuddin may have tainted his record as India8217;s most successful skipper by confessing to sinister machinations, but the legal hurdles in parceling out severe punishment for his exertions are almost brushed away as India worries about the suddenly dismal record of its new captain. It is almost as if the last rites of cricket8217;s biggest scandal are beingperformed.

A leading cricket commentator holds that the ignominy suffered by Azhar and co can already be declared a deterrent to youngsters contemplating glory and fame. It would, however, be a mistake to take comfort in these simplistic psychological formulations. For one, the harrowing prospect of having one8217;s exploits airbrushed out of the record books will be no deterrence to the likes of BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele, whose first reaction to the CBI report was, 8220;There is no match-fixing in India.8221; Certainly, the human drama in the saga 8212; the curious manner in which the episode has boomeranged on part-time investigators like Manoj Prabhakar, the cathartic justice offered to heroes like Kapil Dev 8212; is engrossing. But the justice meted out to men who bartered their national team8217;s fortunes will determine what we mean when we snap, 8220;that8217;s not cricket.8221;