Spot Fixing: Say it ain’t so

Say it ain’t so, Sree

A wristy genius. A flamboyant captain. Two brilliant pacers. And then some more. What a waste, what a terrible waste. Chandila and Chavan are not heroes. Young kids don’t grow up wanting to be them. Sreesanth is known more for his antics than cricketing acumen. Still, what a waste. They are still cricketers, this is still cricket, and I still feel let down.

How naïve the talk about no fixing happening seems in retrospect; belief in an ideal dies hard. They did it. Or did they? Nothing definite has been proved as yet. However, there’s no smoke without fire, as these arrests are high-profile and tabloid fibre. There has to be some element of truth behind it. Doesn’t matter, as for now, their name is mud. And the naysayers will have a field day, picking, chewing and ripping apart all those ideals that make cricket the game it is.

Everything will be analyzed, discussed, and analyzed some more. Seemingly innocent happenings will suddenly develop darker, murkier overtones. After all, perception distorts reality. This isn’t the first time spot-fixing has been detected. Why are we all so scandalized? Maybe because we want to believe, we need to believe that ours is a game where the whole complexion of the match changes in minutes, a game in which each fleeting moment is an event, a game played with a certain modicum of integrity and dignity. God knows cricket thrives on that credibility.

When I saw the news, at first they never mentioned the names of the players that had been arrested. I saw the words spot-fixing and cricket, my heart skipped a beat but I couldn’t put a face to the matter. For that I am grateful. Is it a testament to my love for the game, or the reputation the game itself enjoys? Perhaps it is a combination of both.

Many questions need to be answered yet. There is no definite proof against them yet, no incriminating evidence, at least none that we are aware of. I don’t want to know ‘Who?’ ‘What?’ ‘When?’ or ‘How?’ All I want to know is ‘Why?’ I have racked my brain for reasons. Money seems the most obvious, but the IPL does pay well. So, the likely reasons are that they hate cricket or have lost their minds. The two aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.

One of the most famous sentences baseball history is ‘Say it ain’t so Joe’ in reference to the 1919 Black Sox scandal. I am tempted to do the same. I won’t, because it is futile looking for solace where no solace can be found. I take refuge in the careers of men like Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting and Andrew Strauss. And of course, Rahul Dravid. God, he must feel let down right now.

Cricket is a great game, a gentleman’s game. The reckless transgressions of a few won’t change that.