Was BCCI's verdict correctly given?
By S. Zeyaur Rahman
By S. Zeyaur Rahman
There was hardly an element of surprise in the Board’s decision to award varying degrees of punishment to the tainted players. Remarkably accurate stories were already floating and had kicked up quite a furor. By the time the verdict was handed out the public reacted in away as it does at the end of the film, whose script is too well known. If there was a surprise then that was in the lack of a surprising element. Our Board is in the habit of providing a rider along with the lot. A decision, which leaves us wondering, emotions ranging from disgust to disappointment.
Still one has a feeling that it is not the end of the affair, rather the unfolding of another plot in a long drama, nay epic because of the magnitude of the affair. The stage has been set for a spate of counter allegations, appeals in the courts and some more damning allegations on possibly anybody under the sun. If one reads the Board President’s statement a little deeply, it only strengthens the doubt or the fear of the saga going on endlessly. It says that the Board has decided to act on the basis of the report in order to ‘end its criticism’. If that is the top priority in the scheme of things, I wonder what ends are we going to achieve from it.
Let us examine the individual cases. Nayan Mongia has been exonerated. This is a respite for the Baroda Wicketkeeper, which would remain confined to the symbolic realm. Sure we do not have a substitute for him but logic would dictate to keep him away from the team.
The life ban on Ajay Sharma is another symbolic act and like all symbolic things, will remain inconsequential. Neither the Delhi team nor the DDCA will miss him much and he can go back to operating lockers of the people he knows.
The 5-year ban on Manoj Prabhakar will act as a deterrent to the whistle blowers, which is both good and bad. Bad because not many people would come up with genuine information on malpractices and good because it is a lesson to those, who garb the cloak of morality, in order to protect their own failings. Holier than thou appears to be Manoj’s favorite guiding principle and that explains his disappointment on being equated with Jadeja, a person who had committed ‘more’ crimes than him.
If an exonerated player stands little chance of playing again, then a player with a 5-year ban has no chance at all. Jadeja’s career is effectively over and he appears to be little bothered with it. India does lose a valuable player and a prospective captain, but in either case the need will not be felt much because of the abundance of emerging talent.
The rise and fall of Azharuddin is the most pathetic and almost ‘cathartic’. The icon that, he was makes sure that the consequences would be of titanic proportions. It is a tragedy for the game itself. It is the falling of a giant tree and the ground below is bound to shake. One can write Azhar’s epitaph as a player but not otherwise. He had shown his ability of getting back to the centre stage each time after being written off. His studied silence keeps everyone guessing and could be a lull before the storm.
With the verdict, a scene has ended. A totally avoidable one at that. An aberration in the game of cricket. It is the faith and the trust of the people that has been jolted. The guilty players are definitely responsible for the mess, but the inept handling of the issue by the Board has left a lot to be desired. The Board’s decision has apparently cleared the stall. There may still be a lit of malice left. But for the time being we can hope to see a genuine game. That is our gain. The spectators will return, like a sobered up suitor in a ‘mehfil’ with the love of the game, but without the innocence of the love. That is our loss.
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