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Journalism of Courage
No cricket tournament could have yielded a more shocking result. Very few of the cricket-watching millions in this country and around the globe would have swallowed with equanimity the news about the involvement in match-fixing of five members of the South African team, including captain Hansie Cronje. The sporting skipper, who once called back to the crease an Indian batsman run out because of a collision with the bowler, just did not seem to fit the role immediately. Could the all-rounder, who had built his squad into a formidable fighting force on both fast and slow turfs and appeared to command the respect of his boys, have stooped so low as to enter a dirty deal with a faceless bookie? Would he have staked his high stature and risked a precipitous fall from the grace merely for a fat bank balance? Would the other four players, all of them with long years in the game ahead, been so ready to oblige the leader and smudge their record book? The implications for Indian cricket have only increased theincredulity in this part of the world. Spare a thought for poor Saurav Ganguly. The Prince of Calcutta had led his much-battered team to a famous victory in the Pepsi one-day tourney, only to be reduced once again to a cricketing pauper. But if the Indians can seek solace in the moral downfall of their opposition, who inflicted a humiliating home defeat on them in the preceding Test series, they cannot remain unperturbed about the blemishes cast on this gentleman8217;s game.
While the case against Cronje must be scrupulously pursued, this is an opportune moment to look within at allegations of murky dealing in the Indian camp. Manoj Prabhakar8217;s much-publicised allegations have led to no dramatic investigations and findings by any of the Indian authorities. An inquiry by a retired chief justice of the Supreme Court even declared the charges ill-founded. The former Indian all-rounder has, however, found a measure of vindication in the Cronje story. What makes his suggestions of underhand deals plausible is public knowledge about the greater role big money plays in the game than the ball and the bat. The decline in the standards of Indian cricket in direct proportion to the increase in the players8217; affluence is a point repeatedly made in the popular discourse on the subject. These are all facts that fit into an international pattern.
The answer that the allegations and the apprehensions demand is clear. It is immediate and effective action by the International Cricket Council, in cooperation with the cricket control boards of all playing countries, to investigate the subject of match-fixing as a whole and restore the glory of the game that does not consist of its uncertainties alone.
