That’s chucking

Ho hum. Back it is then to square one. It is nobody’s point as yet that match-fixing is an integral part of Indian cricket, that Kapil be divested of his World Cup halo and be christened a Devil without a fair hearing; but one would think that this slurry of charges of match-fixing and financial impropriety that the players and administrators are flailing about in would make the board take cognizance. And responsibly probe every accusation, and counter-accusation.

The BCCI’s response is mystifying, and incredibly worrying. It begs the question, are its officebearers plain incompetent or is there a diabolic method in this attempt to put a lid on even the faintest of innuendo? For, part of the swirl of the current controversy centres on how much did the BCCI know of suspicions of wrongdoing and on how some of its office-bearers, present or former, could have benefitted financially from high-interest tournaments. The Justice Chandrachud episode has amply demonstrated the futility of expecting India’s cricket establishment to govern itself.

Hence, for all the talk of the BCCI drafting a code of conduct, it is clear that Muthiah and his ilk cannot be entrusted with rescuing cricket from the current quagmire. That is an easy conclusion more difficult is hazarding an alternative mechanism. The CBI may have been entrusted with a wide-ranging inquiry, but given the intransigence the BCCI’s worthies have given proof of, optimism is hard to summon.

In the meantime, international cricket continues to be splattered with more and more incriminating utterances, the latest being Salim Malik’s reportedly taped boast that he can fix any match for a price. The Australian Cricket Board has initiated an inquiry into Malik’s charge that a 1994 Australia-Pakistan tie was doubly fixed. One wonders what would happen if perchance India were to be mentioned in another such conversation. Probably Jaywant Lele would issue his characteristic judgement, "rubbish", and there the matter would be sought to be rested.