Let's see if we can make sense of this together. The worst cynic in us would say there is a likelihood that pretty much every cricket match between India and Pakistan, otherwise known as large portions of our childhood memories, was fixed
Let's see if we can make sense of this together. The worst cynic in us would say there is a likelihood that pretty much every cricket match between India and Pakistan, otherwise known as large portions of our childhood memories, was fixed. The World Championship finals in Australia (1985) where Ravi Shastri rode around MCG in an Audi (then precious and unavailable, now mandatory for Delhi posh), the great Sharjah last ball six in 1986 (granted when you think of the word gentleman, Javed Miandad's face does not pop up), the Sachin-Shoaib battle in South Africa (2004), the 20/20 finals (2009).
Endless hours of fingernail biting, praying, missed career opportunities, chances to go abroad, lost love. All because we fundamentally gave into a very basic story that sport tells ufffd that anything can happen. As a friend explained, "Now every commentator is saying that Pakistani match fixing has been going on forever. If only they told me in 1979, I would have got the promotions I wanted, married that woman who got away and been far wealthier. Now, my last 25 years lie in waste".
The less melodramatic amongst us would say this is an individual incident. A group of young Pakistani cricketers, perhaps inexperienced in the ways of global gambling (which always seems to, for some reason, involve a bearded UK citizen in a Dubai hotel room), perhaps taken by the fact that our cricketers have Hummers and starlet girlfriends and they have to return to assist in flood relief, took some money.
Naturally, all our papers and TV channels as well as our neighbours are shouting and screaming that the guilty should be banned. That cricket should be cleaned up. There's no doubt that it should. And a three year-old can tell you any illegality should have consequences.
Delving into the petty logistics of how they stored cash, a fixer negotiating over the number of next day's no balls, a girlfriend evaluating the handsomeness of bribe-taking Pakistani men, a shady bookmaker carrying cash in jackets (American rappers take note), are all beside the larger point which is thus. And I quote my friend and cricket fan Mukul Chadda here, "Regardless of the facts, for every game of cricket you have ever seen, or will ever see, you will never actually know what's true."
And in many ways, it's worse for the cricketers. Ricky Ponting hearing these allegations was in tears, not because he's a huge defender of honour, but because he now wonders whether every great win against Pakistan which he thought were highlights of his professional career, didn't actually require his heroism.
You could arrest everyone and clean up everything but once your own past is in doubt, there's no way to fix it.
Imagine sitting in some International Court of Justice with every cricketer in the world. You say, "My CAT was on. I didn't study and lost my shot at IIM because I was watching you clip that for a four. You needed 3 to win." And someone replies, "That was fixed. See what happened is, I had taken some money, the fielder had taken some money, he moved out of the way and ufffd"
Some would say the scale of this is much bigger than finding out your dad isn't your dad or that your home life is a reality TV show.
Then again, this could all be overblown. Our cricketers were accused of stealing money, a South African captain confessed and died for it. Kapil Dev cried on national television. Everyone predicted then, in the late 90s, that cricket was over. Twelve years on, one of those accused is now a member of parliament and our mania has only exploded stronger. Cricketers sell us everything. There's a national league so big that its former Commissioner was fired for, um, let's see, allegations of money misuse. I'm no expert but some may see a trend here.
Maybe that's the thrill we enjoy best ufffd knowing that matches are fixed but still watching them to see if things will play out as fixed. Some have argued that even the best fixed matches can go wrong, when a cricketer does something surprising, and totally out of character, like play well.
As a fan explained, "I could never understand the accusations that our team in the 90s were paid money to throw matches. They were so bad anyway, why pay them to do something they were already doing for free?"
Finally, there's a lot of talk on banning the Pakistani team, of the ICC being weak. Yes, the evidence seems to suggest these men were caught with cash. Yes, this is a team with a record of ball tampering and a former international cricketer (Salim Malik) being banned for life (great defiant quote from him once he went into hiding in Birmingham: "I can fix a match anytime, anywhere").
The ICC, however, can't ban Pakistan. As much as one may be a fan of watching New Zealand and The West Indies go at it, the world watches very little cricket and cares even less. The subcontinent games remain perhaps the sole money source left in international cricket. If you walk into any stadium, outside India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka, during any match (except maybe the Ashes which are more like all-day picnics with salmon sandwiches and wine), you could buy a ticket and go in. As a famous English cricket journalist wrote recently, "It's only a matter of time before the word 'international' cannot be applied to the sport. And if those still playing are accused of fixing, it's no longer a game ufffd it's a stock market. "
Anuvab Pal is a Mumbai-based playwright and screenwriter. His plays in Mumbai include Chaos Theory and screenplays for Loins of Punjab Presents (co-written) and The President is Coming. He is currently working on a book on the Bollywood film Disco Dancer for Harper Collins, out later this year.u00a0 Reach him at www.anuvabpal.com
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