Cricket was called the gentleman's game. Game-what does the word mean? Game means - A sport or an activity which gives entertainment or amusement. A game is something of a recreational activity which gives the people a form of entertainment.
But the rules has changed. Games no longer signify just entertainment but big money and even bigger earnings by gambling and betting. Indian Premier League (IPL) is the cash trove of the Board of Control of Cricket in India, drawing big investors who has enough money to burn. The players are well paid and they get extra bonus from franchisees for endorsing products. In all, the players has nothing to complain as they become very rich.
Match fixing, spot fixing and betting is nothing new to cricket. In international cricket, there has been many instances wherein the players are paid to give up the match by the bookies. Many have been caught and their lives wasted. Yet why is it that such allegations keeps on repeating.
Come 2013, three players and um-teem number of bookies are arrested by the Delhi Police after months of careful investigation, surveillance and tagging. Now I am not into Advocating the innocence or guilt of the Accused. What shocked me is the brazen way by which things transpire in such circumstances. Why is it that the BCCI after so many times failed to take corrective steps to stem corruption from the Cricket? Why is it that the vigilance wing of the BCCI is still ineffective in stopping corruption and match fixing? How is that the underworld is allowed to have such strangling force in the world of cricket? These are answers that BCCI is bound to answer to the Indian public.
Cricket is the de-facto national sport of India. India has large followings among the masses and the cricketers are treated as sort of gods. I still remember my childhood when we used to have the India tour of Australia. We would get up at 4'clock in the morning and watch the play sitting before the TV with out moving an inch until the game is over. The likes of Gavaskar and Kapil Dev was our icons. We would play cricket dreaming of emulating these legends. Now things have changed. there is nothing called fair play. When we see cricket, we doubt weather the match was fixed. I have for long stopped watching cricket. I prefer to watch WWE instead which is better to watch or say Kabaddi.
It is time for BCCI to sit up, take notice and take corrective steps to arrest and stem the degradation of cricket. If they do not take proper steps now, the decline of the cricket to oblivion is not far off. Let us hope the BCCI has learnt their lesson and these incidents never gets repeated. That is our sincere wish as an Indian and as a fan of the great game of cricket.
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