Just not cricket as it’s meant to be
16 May 2012 1:12 AM GMT
That even the Indian Premier League is not free of the vice of spot fixing and underhand financial dealings is distressing. It is a matter of shame that a sting operation by India TV has caught five players, representing various IPL franchises, succumbing to the lure of the lucre. What is worse, discussions by these players on camera reveal the involvement of IPL captains and even the team owners in such activities. It would seem that the team owners even pay players in ‘black’ well above IPL’s prescribed slabs. While nobody would object to players being paid more in this entertaining version of the game, these payments have to be aboveboard and fair. In the past as well, well-known names in the world of cricket have succumbed to the temptation of accepting illegal monetory gratification and have done so in the longer, more established versions of the game. Allegations have flown thick and fast and some sporting careers have been ruined because of these illegal monetary exchanges. This is as it should be. he players who have so indulged have behaved in a most unsportsmanlike manner. These financial dealing take away from the spirit of the game, corrupting it completely. They are a form of cheating and of fooling the public. Spot fixing is the deliberate fixing of events within the game, motivated by gambling, similar to match-fixing when games are delibrately thrown or lost.
Huge amounts are won or lost when games are fixed or events within the game are predetermined. The focus of those who indulge in betting and gambling is not on cricket but on money. They get their fix from something other than the game. Even though IPL is a truncated form of cricket, it is still a variety of the game. Even this version of cricket is played according to some rules. It is only a side that has scored more or fared better in accordance with the rules of the game that deserves to win. Fixing events within the game for monetary incentive takes away from the spirit of wholesome fun and competitiveness that cricket is and should be. This way of playing cricket is outrageous and demeaning to the true cricket loving fan for whose sake the tournaments are organised. They are just not getting cricket but a fraud in its name. Therefore the events recorded through the sting by India TV and the allegations made thereafter should be throughly probed by authorised agencies. Heads should roll if any truth is found in them and IPL should be cleaned up.
Huge amounts are won or lost when games are fixed or events within the game are predetermined. The focus of those who indulge in betting and gambling is not on cricket but on money. They get their fix from something other than the game. Even though IPL is a truncated form of cricket, it is still a variety of the game. Even this version of cricket is played according to some rules. It is only a side that has scored more or fared better in accordance with the rules of the game that deserves to win. Fixing events within the game for monetary incentive takes away from the spirit of wholesome fun and competitiveness that cricket is and should be. This way of playing cricket is outrageous and demeaning to the true cricket loving fan for whose sake the tournaments are organised. They are just not getting cricket but a fraud in its name. Therefore the events recorded through the sting by India TV and the allegations made thereafter should be throughly probed by authorised agencies. Heads should roll if any truth is found in them and IPL should be cleaned up.
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