Opinion Match-fixing on TV
Since war has been declared,instead of an innings,you know this ain't cricket.
Since war has been declared,instead of an innings,you know this ain’t cricket. In the last seven days after India’s quarterfinal victory over Australia,we’ve watched the news channels and guess what? It ain’t the news,it’s cricket. So we’re in this odd place,where war is being waged where cricket should be played and cricket is playing where the news should be making the headlines.
And because it is war,our TV anchors believe it is their patriotic duty to provide India with all the ‘air’ cover support they can instead of reporting on the semifinal encounter between India and Pakistan with the objectivity they are supposed to practice as professional journalists. They do not hesitate or blush to wear the Indian flag on their tongues and make statements like,’we are all hoping for an Indian victory’,thereby indicating that they are Indians first and journalists second.
Seems to me,the TV channels are indulging in a spot of match-fixing of their own kind,something they discussed at great length and with even greater passion than they normally bring to discussions. Rajdeep Sardesai (CNN-IBN) devoted the better part of the 9 o’clock news looking for answers to the question: can somebody (read the Pakistani players) actually think of fixing a World Cup semifinal match? Sports writer Pradeep Magazine thought they could which led Sardesai to repeat the question with even greater emphasis and a certain degree of incredulity: do you mean you really think somebody would fix a WORLD CUP SEMI FINAL MATCH?
The poor Pakistani team didn’t know what had hit them and it wasn’t a cricket ball,for sure when their Interior Minister walked straight into the TV mike and warned them against throwing away the match for that filthy thing called lucre or words to that effect. The closest cricket analogy to this kind of behaviour,is the momentary madness that possessed Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh as they tried to run out each other and themselves,simultaneously,in the match against Australia. Yaani ki ,a self goal.
In a sense,the cricketers should be grateful to the Prime Minister of India for inviting the Prime Minister of Pakistan to watch them run,run out,run out of steam,whatever,because it has diverted the media’s attention to the politics of cricket as opposed to cricket politics,match-fixing and the actual match itself. I mean it has got to be the first time that TV news about cricket is talking about helicopters instead of Dhoni’s helicopter shot which Pepsi has so thoughtfully duplicated in its TV ads.
As of now,the ICC has banned TV news media coverage of the Mohali Mahabharat or just to show that I am as patriotic as the next news anchor. ‘mera bharat mahaan’ . The ICC says the news channels have been very naughty and stolen more footage of the matches than is their fair share. Now,now. So the ICC has rapped them on the knuckles but doubtless by the time the match begins,Wednesday afternoon,the ICC and the news channels will have fixed a new agreement. In which case,you will be able to watch cricket instead of news on all the news channels.
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