Only a day or two ago, I thought my next blog post would be on how inspiring Rahul Dravid's Rajasthan Royals have been. But even as I sat down to type this one out, some of his mates set the serpents out in the open. So here I am having to vent my thoughts on some of the most unpleasant moments in world sport when I could have so easily gone on about Dravid's fantastic acclimatization to T20 cricket and the Royals' fine teamwork in the IPL-6.
Anyone who says that he didn't expect there to be the odd accusations of spot fixing in the IPL was only deluding himself. It's always been there in the air: talk of how corrupt a corporate tournament where young kids just out of school rake in the moolah can get. It wasn't cricket, they said. It was just another form of Bollywood-style entertainment. But it was entertainment nonetheless. You still got to see Chris Gayle blowing bowlers away. You still got to see Sunil Narine foxing batsmen in the middle. You still got to see the odd brilliance from Kieron Pollard and David Miller. You also found new talent in the form of Ravi Ashwin and 'Sir' Jadeja. Even those who are born sceptical and believe from the bottom of their hearts that the IPL is ever so vulnerable to fixing turn on their television sets each evening to unwind and watch some slam-bang. Yes, for all you know, what you're watching may be scripted. But then when you think about it, so are the movies! Yes, it's not sport. But well, it still is entertainment!
What is surprising and hurtful though is that a young man oozing with talent - someone who foxed the likes of Alastair Cook and Jacques Kallis in the hostile environs of England and South Africa and someone who was seen to be aspiring a comeback to the national squad - would betray the finest gentleman in world cricket. One really would feel for Rahul Dravid tonight. He doesn't deserve to be in this at all.
Why is the IPL so vulnerable to fixing?
Personally, as temperamental as Shantakumaran Sreesanth may be, I'd never in the wildest of my dreams imagined that he'd throw away his career in such a trifling. But perhaps he was frustrated. Perhaps he was miffed at having been overlooked in favor of comrade Irfan Pathan for the Champions Trophy in England. And perhaps he wasn't as optimistic as the rest of us and thought his India career was now truly over.
Those harboring that last thought are precisely those who are most vulnerable to be booked by the bookie. There are so many of them out there in the IPL. First things first, there is little sentimental value to loyalty in the IPL. In the IPL, a sportsman becomes a corporate employee - not something you'd want in the ideal and certainly not something a sportsman should get used to. You can't expect a young man from Jharkhand or Uttar Pradesh to identify himself with the red and gold of a Vijay Mallya owned team based in Bangalore as he would perhaps with the colours of Team India. So lest this young man is Vijay Mallya's good friend or falls in love with his adopted city in a matter of days, where is the loyalty?
The good thing with young men though is that they are highly ambitious and always roam in search of moments of childhood fantasy. The force of motivation then comes from the fact that turning in a series of good performances for the Chennai Super Kings or Rajasthan Royals may see you gain the coveted India jersey. And thus were born the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja - symbols of the IPL's true success in unearthing latent talent. But what if age has caught up with you? In modern cricket's intense competitiveness, a zillion Indian players are lost in the domestic circuit. These men, on the wrong side of 25 or 30 are the most vulnerable to fixing. Seeing that there is little to lose and in the quest for some quick extra bucks, many second or third tier Indians outside the international spotlight are easily netted by crafty bookies for their cause.
The troubling part for the ever-passionate Indian cricket fan is that it's really difficult to grasp the idea that the IPL always was and always will be a corporate tournament. The IPL was never meant to grow into the competitive play field that club football is. Never mind the Gayle storms and Dale storms, you still want to see every man on the field give everything he's got every ball he bats, bowls or fields. That's the true essence of sport. It's "unscripted entertainment". Is this sport then?
Anyone who says that he didn't expect there to be the odd accusations of spot fixing in the IPL was only deluding himself. It's always been there in the air: talk of how corrupt a corporate tournament where young kids just out of school rake in the moolah can get. It wasn't cricket, they said. It was just another form of Bollywood-style entertainment. But it was entertainment nonetheless. You still got to see Chris Gayle blowing bowlers away. You still got to see Sunil Narine foxing batsmen in the middle. You still got to see the odd brilliance from Kieron Pollard and David Miller. You also found new talent in the form of Ravi Ashwin and 'Sir' Jadeja. Even those who are born sceptical and believe from the bottom of their hearts that the IPL is ever so vulnerable to fixing turn on their television sets each evening to unwind and watch some slam-bang. Yes, for all you know, what you're watching may be scripted. But then when you think about it, so are the movies! Yes, it's not sport. But well, it still is entertainment!
What is surprising and hurtful though is that a young man oozing with talent - someone who foxed the likes of Alastair Cook and Jacques Kallis in the hostile environs of England and South Africa and someone who was seen to be aspiring a comeback to the national squad - would betray the finest gentleman in world cricket. One really would feel for Rahul Dravid tonight. He doesn't deserve to be in this at all.
Why is the IPL so vulnerable to fixing?
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| Caught in a fix: Sreesanth on his way out |
Those harboring that last thought are precisely those who are most vulnerable to be booked by the bookie. There are so many of them out there in the IPL. First things first, there is little sentimental value to loyalty in the IPL. In the IPL, a sportsman becomes a corporate employee - not something you'd want in the ideal and certainly not something a sportsman should get used to. You can't expect a young man from Jharkhand or Uttar Pradesh to identify himself with the red and gold of a Vijay Mallya owned team based in Bangalore as he would perhaps with the colours of Team India. So lest this young man is Vijay Mallya's good friend or falls in love with his adopted city in a matter of days, where is the loyalty?
The good thing with young men though is that they are highly ambitious and always roam in search of moments of childhood fantasy. The force of motivation then comes from the fact that turning in a series of good performances for the Chennai Super Kings or Rajasthan Royals may see you gain the coveted India jersey. And thus were born the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja - symbols of the IPL's true success in unearthing latent talent. But what if age has caught up with you? In modern cricket's intense competitiveness, a zillion Indian players are lost in the domestic circuit. These men, on the wrong side of 25 or 30 are the most vulnerable to fixing. Seeing that there is little to lose and in the quest for some quick extra bucks, many second or third tier Indians outside the international spotlight are easily netted by crafty bookies for their cause.
The troubling part for the ever-passionate Indian cricket fan is that it's really difficult to grasp the idea that the IPL always was and always will be a corporate tournament. The IPL was never meant to grow into the competitive play field that club football is. Never mind the Gayle storms and Dale storms, you still want to see every man on the field give everything he's got every ball he bats, bowls or fields. That's the true essence of sport. It's "unscripted entertainment". Is this sport then?
nice.....must start following your blog....!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words Keerthi! I wholeheartedly invite you to follow my blog.
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