Cricket has been floored by a knock-out punch

However, the thought that comes to my mind is how come nobody ever mentioned Srinath, Kumble or Dravid and a few other names in the messy affair? I am told the BCCI is at pains to come clean itself and then help the players to come clean also. This is a tall order indeed because the BCCI has seldom carried the tag of an immaculate organisation.

Quite optimistically, I have defended cricket more than I would my identity. But of late, a fair amount of depression is setting in. Let me assure you all, that it is not a nice feeling to be branded a “cricket-wallah” and then be looked upon with raised eyebrows. It happened at a couple of occasions I wouldn’t like to remember. It is sad that the cricket stock is very low even if the enthusiasm amongst the youngsters may not have been affected.

I sincerely hope I am not blowing my own trumpet. We are well into the last week of our summer cricket clinic with SAI and for good three months we have had a remarkable attendance, which is why I am inclined to believe the scandalous cricket stories have had no impact on the youth trying to learn the basics of the game. But you can’t stop the outsiders from frowning upon the cricketing fraternity. In one practice game for our trainees, we had to request athletes from other disciplines to clear up. The response was not very co-operative. It was downright offensive.“Do you teach them about match-fixing also?” our coaches were asked. Unbearable insult, it was heaped on all of us. There is no way we could have retaliated. It was a clear indication of how cricket is being mauled thanks to the avarice of our administrators-combined-players.

The argument crops up: Is this the worst crisis faced by cricket? Yes, by many a mile. The `Bodyline’ was aimed at Bradman alone and if some of the others were hit, it was purely coincidental. The Packer affair was an outlandish attempt to bulldoze cricket establishment for a solitary purpose — exclusive TV rights — which became an obsessive question of prestige for the hulk called Kerry Packer.

Cricket has had many other hick-ups and survived them all. But the present malice of match-fixing and corruption takes the cake. Cricket has been floored with a knock-out punch. It is lying writhing in agony without a soul for a savior. What a pity!

Apropos the judicial happenings in South Africa and the investigations in India where much truth is spoken so that more could be concealed, it is an old maxim that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Well, let us hope for the better health of cricket, that truth shall prevail sooner than later.