Saturday, February 22, 2014

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Make cricket free of corruption' that was published in Newsband

Make cricket free of corruption
Justice Mudgal committee has come up with a report relating to cricket. From the report it is clear that there is need for thorough clean-up of cricket in the country. The report says that Gurunath Meiyappan was not the owner of Chenai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League but just an enthusiastic follower of the team. The report describes him as a team official.  The report accuses him of having indulged in betting and passing on information. The report recommends further investigation into allegations of betting and spot fixing against Raj Kundra of Rajasthan Royals.
But the committee’s third member, Nilay Dutta, does not accept the allegation of betting against Mr. Meiyappan. During the days of test cricket in the past there was never a need to appoint committee to probe into the cases relating to corruptions of test cricketers. The new form of cricket has given birth to these corruptions. But one can’t jump to the conclusion that the new forms of cricket that have come up today are worse than the test cricket that we had in the past. 
IPL has done a lot of good to cricketers and the cricket fans. The Twenty Twenty format has made the game more exciting like football or hockey. No wonder it is called ‘Cricketainment’. A sport without entertainment cannot be called a sport. Test cricket in the past used to be a boring affair. Cricket has been converted into a very exciting sport today considering the ‘Carnival’ kind of atmosphere that gets generated in an IPL game with excitingly dressed dancing Cheerleaders also getting equal TV coverage along with Fast Paced, 'Sixers' Based and 'Sixers' Packed cricket with bowlers getting mercilessly punished on grounds with shortened boundaries and with new rules and restrictions on field placements. Financially too it has done such wonders for professional cricketers.
The negative side of this new form of cricket is that it has become a money game and with such high stakes involved, it has led to corruption.
Cricket is a game that was introduced to the World by the British. Test cricket was their idea. But non-English cricketers should be given the credit for introducing today such exciting forms of cricket instead of the boring test cricket matches that we used to have in the past.  
It is true that certain steps are needed to break the nexus of money making in the name of cricket. The investigation by Mudgal Committee clearly laid down the curtain from the dark side of Indian cricket. This money game is loosing its moral and ethical norms. Players, senior officials and others are indulging in the conspiracy. On the basis of Mudgal report, Apex court should take an initiative for a proper vigilance of IPL as well as other format of this game. A strong action is needed against the perpetrators.

After all, a sport should be a sport only. Cricket in India is no longer a sport. With underworld links it represents an aberration which should be removed.

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