Pay 038; Play: This time, it146;s India A

It was almost inevitable. Two days after selectors 8216;outed8217; Abhijit Kale, a TV channel reported today the allegations of a former I...

It was almost inevitable. Two days after selectors 8216;outed8217; Abhijit Kale, a TV channel reported today the allegations of a former India 8216;A8217; batsman that he was asked to pay for his selection in the team.

Hyderabad all-rounder Vanka Pratap told Sahara Samay that he was asked by selectors to pay for a place in the team. 8216;8216;I have been approached but I didn8217;t bother8217;8217;, Vanka reportedly said, without apparently specifying dates. 8216;8216;Someone approached me on behalf of the selectors. I wouldn8217;t like to name the selector but everybody in Hyderabad Cricket Association knows who he is.8217;8217;

In a 10-year career that ended two seasons ago, Vanka played 83 first-class matches and scored 3,957 runs at an average of 36.30. Vanka8217;s highest domestic score was 136 and he hit six centuries and 27 half-centuries in a ten-year career. He also played for India A against the West Indies A side in 1998/99.

Vanka also cited the example of Hyderabad off-spinner Noel David, who was picked ahead of veteran off-spinner Kanwaljit Singh for the 1996-97 India tour of the West Indies. 8216;8216;The selection raised eyebrows. Noel was not even sure of a place in the Hyderabad team but he was picked for the Indian team.8217;8217;

Interestingly, the team manager on that tour was DV Subba Rao 8212; who is investigating the Kale case for the BCCI.

Vanka is not likely to be the last to make allegations of corruption. It is a known fact that Indian sport is riddled with corruption of every sort 8212; money is only one of the commodities changing hands. Any of India8217;s women athletes, even those at the top, will tell you of the sporting equivalent of the casting couch.

The problem stems from two flaws. One is the all-powerful role of the official 8212; whether coach or selector or administrator 8212; and that person8217;s willingness to use that power to any limit. The sportsmen and women 8212; all except the top cricketers 8212; become pawns.

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The second is the pyramid structure of Indian sport. The base 8212; where most of the sportsmen ply their trade 8212; is huge but the money and fame exist only at the very tip of the pyramid. To get there requires a short-cut. The rest is easy to guess.