Mr Fix-it

Like a tired record, the infuriating gossip about match fixing has returned to the cricket field. After India’s victory in Lahore on March 21, just so many stray voices — including some in the supposedly mainstream media — have speculated, implied, and otherwise hinted at the prospect of a pre-determined result. The source of these innuendoes are extraordinary — they range from know-all taxi drivers to subcontinental conspiracy-theorists, and the like. Their rationale? That both governments want to sustain the peace initiative by manufacturing a series with the closest possible result. That there has been widespread betting on the matches is, to some, conclusive proof of this. No doubt betting on cricket is a crime in India but what has that got to do with match fixing?

It is nobody’s argument that no cricket match has ever been fixed. The scandal opened up by the Hansie Cronje tapes of 2000 is too recent to forget. It implicated top stars and resulted in a CBI investigation. Yet, enormous circumstantial evidence was provided to try and establish that cricket had been corrupted. Phone records have been gone through, conversations intercepted, players subjected to rigorous interrogation. Nothing of that sort has been done by the self-appointed Sherlock Holmes units that have sprung up over the past week. Even tabloid journalism needs some truth to twist; hearsay journalism needs none.

It is important to note that the arrangements put in place by the ICC after the Cronje affair have done much to protect cricketers from possible bribe-givers. Players are practically under surveillance during a match, or just before and after. On the current Pakistan tour, of course, security insulation has reached new levels. Can players do anything untoward in these circumstances, presuming that they want to? That aside, a perverse inferiority complex is at work here. When India plays Australia or Zimbabwe, or Burkina Faso, for that matter, there is no talk of fixing. When India loses to Pakistan, there is no talk of fixing. Yet, when Indian wins against Pakistan, all hell breaks loose. Why? Do these pundits believe India can only defeat Pakistan courtesy the generosity of payola-happy Pakistanis? This is not a conspiracy theory — it’s a practical joke.