By Gargi Bhardwaj:
India is the land where cricket is not just a game but flows in the blood of the people and cricketers are worshiped like Gods. Desolate lanes, empty roads and all eyes fixed on a TV screen, a decade ago this was a usual scene if the match happened to be India vs someone. The most common question during those times used to be, ‘score kya hua hai? Sachin out to nhi hua na’. and if the match was between India and Pakistan, then even those who don’t like cricket became crazy for it. It was a curfew like situation those days.
Later with advent of 20-20 matches and IPL, this passion for cricket reached the height of insanity. Cricket clubs open in every other town and parents started to imagine their child as the next Sachin. The players hailing from small towns as Muradnagar, Faridabad, Aligarh etc intensified this dream of parents.
But as the time passed, this gentleman’s game admixed with match-fixing and spot-fixing etc. Last time three Pakistani players, Â Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were found guilty of match-fixing, this time three Indian players Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila have been alleged for spot fixing. The greed of multiplying money quickly turned to be so grim that it has resulted in the destruction of the cricketing careers of these players. Every time when such an incident is reported, cricket fans feel betrayed. Sometime, somewhere, these players might have been someone’s ideal especially when entry here is not a cakewalk. The recent controversy has not only hurt their fans and put an indelible blot on their careers but also shamed the entire cricket world once again. Also, it has raised question marks on part of the BCCI. Not to be forgotten that BCCI is said to have a stature equivalent, if not higher, to that of ICC and after each victory BCCI digs deep into pockets of cricketers. The moment one enters this field, money is not a botheration because numerous advertisements and endorsements are lined up for the players.
The aspiring cricketers need to restrain themselves from the claws of match-fixing else the consequences can be severe. They need to learn from the veterans of this field, the ones who raised this game to a new height such that they were compared to God. Otherwise, the viewers may also lose their faith in this game not knowing which no-ball was fixed or which over was pre-planned.