Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Art of living is more important than art of playing' that was published in Newsband

Art of living is more important than art of playing

The punishment has been handed out by a Supreme Court-appointed committee to teams and individuals involved in the betting scandal that hit the Indian Premier League two years ago. A two-year suspension has been slapped on IPL franchises India Cements Ltd., which owned Chennai Super Kings, and Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt. Ltd., which owns Rajasthan Royals. The action is essentially based on the involvement of Gurunath Meiyappan, a CSK team official, and Raj Kundra, a former owner of Rajasthan Royals, in betting activity, and in maintaining contact with bookies. The two men have been suspended for life from any kind of involvement in cricket matches organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI),

IPL gave hope to lot of youth who toil day in and out in cricket fields and still do not make it to the national team. If professionalism can be achieved in other sports why not cricket? If we are smart we should know how to make IPL corruption-free. It is necessary to maintain the purity and integrity of the game of cricket.

Surely the betting and fixing will not stop with life bans on Raj Kundra and Gurunath Meiappan. Only a financial loss to these perpetrators will deter others from following suite.

We hope that the Apex court and its judges will show the same courage in handing over punishment to all the political bosses who are involved in corruption cases involving public money. They have clearly over reached in suspending the two teams and handing over life ban on the two individuals. The judgement is loaded and aimed at punishing an individual who through democratic means occupy high position in the cricket body.

The judgment by the RM Lodha committee was the need of the hour. Nobody is bigger than the game of cricket. There should be no compromise based on the stature of people involved in remorseful act. Stringent punishment should be given to the people involved in it and there should not be any hearing further in this case. BCCI should conduct fresh bid for new teams instead of going with the new wine in an old glass. This decision is surely going to bring back the faith of the people in the game.

But what is the monetary punishment? There are few obvious points to ponder: When you suspend a team from participating, are you punishing them? They have made their money and will enjoy a long sabbatical. Can the court say that the officials and the players be not paid the fee? Then why the court did not freeze the accounts of these teams?

Everything is as per the knowledge and experience of the Supreme Court judges. The sentences are definitely from the mouth or pen of the learned ones. We have to accept legally they are OK and unquestionable.

One question that bothers the intellectuals is why the game of cricket matters most? So many lakhs of people spend so much money and precious time in watching 22 people playing a game with so much uncertainties, may be glorious as claimed by the writers and speakers all these years. They are not looking at our lives in this world as more uncertain and more glorious than anything else let alone cricket. This game of life matters most - more than any other thing, including cricket. Art of living is more popular than art of playing.

The last thing is that Cricket is the most popular game in India today. So, several politicians and unscrupulous persons capture administrative positions in BCCI and its associations for popularity and monetary benefits. Henceforth, only cricketers who played at least Ranji Trophy should be allowed to contest elections for administrative positions in BCCI and its affiliated associations.