It146;s not cricket

Untill Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi came to Indian cricket, it had been a game of relaxed expectations. The dashing bat, who carried the elegance of his craft in his gait, had by all accounts been an accidental captain, elevated at 21 to the post after Nari Contractor was injured during the 1961-62 tour of the West Indies. Pataudi seized the moment and changed India8217;s cricketing paradigm. The game was to be played for a win; and if in that effort defeat came instead of carefully stretched draws, so be it. He set an attacking field, he prepared the ground for the famous spin quartet by relying more on slow bowlers, India8217;s strength. And he won some 8212; including India8217;s first overseas victory against New Zealand, and that famous Test against Bob Simpson8217;s Australians in Bombay, 1964-65. Still, his was a career of slim pickings 8212; but it was a career imbued with cricket8217;s purest ideal: to strive to win, by the rules.

It is this legacy that Pataudi is today accused of negating in the allegations of poaching against him. From his vehicle has been recovered the carcass of a black buck. The police have taken possession of the arms allegedly used by his entourage in Haryana8217;s Jhajjhar district last weekend. Haryana8217;s chief wildlife warden has claimed that the police are trying to scuttle the case involving a serious crime, hunting endangered wildlife.

Once again, a highly regarded public figure has opened himself to the charge of breaching the law. Of poaching, at a time when world over, wildlife is seen as a national asset that needs to be nurtured. As for those who believe that cricket holds life8217;s codes, perhaps this is a reminder that white flannels, in this case, at least, were no guarantee for the poor black buck.