Responsibility, propriety and moral fibre are hollow words in the context of Indian cricket today. It came out of the shadows of anonymity in the 70s to depose the traditional powerhouses and then bathe under the shower of capitalism. But money is no certification of a well-administered sport. Good governance is. Unfortunately, it took India 13 years to realise that, with embarrassment at either end of that timeframe.
Indian cricket fell on the floor during the mad dash of its administrators. It was being run over in a rush for money, power and more money. But no one bothered, as long as it was alive and remained fit enough to earn. It was only time before the careless approach took its toll on the game - in the year 2000.
'Fixing' wasn't new to the world of sports, considering the Chicago White Sox 'threw' the American baseball championship in 1919. But it was something unheard of in cricket until that report by the Indian probe agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It found then captain Mohammad Azharuddin guilty of fixing matches with a bookmaker, Mukesh Gupta. The net widened, footage became more explicit and names bigger. Former South Africa skipper Hansie Cronje, who was at the centre of it, faced a trail and later admitted his felony amid tears. He was banned for life before dying in a plane crash.
Players were falling for easy money despite fat cheques and agencies lined up to sign them. It
01:32 PM, Jun 01, 2013
New Delhi: Riding high after the arrest of three cricketer, including India fast bowler S Sreesanth, in spot-fixing in Indian Premier League (IPL), Delhi Police are still struggling to file a chargesheet 13 years after having exposed the murky world of match-fixing in 2000. The cricketing world was shocked in 2000, when Delhi Police named the then South African captain Hansie Cronje, who died later, his team mates Herschelle Gibbs...
09:30 PM, May 17, 2013
"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good." So said the fictional money-loving inside trader in Oliver Stone's 1987 film Wall Street. Watching the revelations of Thursday, it is clear that greed is anything but. Needless to say in the next five days while Rajasthan Royals cricketers Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan remain in police custody there will be much hypothesizing, pontificating and vilifying. Fingers will be pointed,...
08:20 AM, May 17, 2013
Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and fast bowler Mohammad Asif, who lost their appeal at the Court of Abritration for Sport against spot-fixing bans, were the first players with team-mate Mohammad Amir to be punished by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Players implicated in corruption cases: Life bans May 2000: Former Pakistan captain Salim Malik banned for life by a judicial inquiry conducted by judge Malik Mohammad Qayyum. Malik was...
10:49 AM, May 16, 2013
Henry Williams dropped a bombshell by admitting that Gibbs and he gave false testimonies to the Kings Commission against Hansie Cronje. ...
01:09 PM, Jan 13, 2013
On the anniversary of the esteemed cricket writer's death, Vimal Kumar reflects on a life lost. ...
11:01 AM, Nov 12, 2012
The former South African captain, whose career ended after a match-fixing scandal, was 32 when he was killed in a plane crash. ...
12:01 AM, Jun 01, 2012
The movie can also open in India and other Test-playing nations. ...
01:50 PM, Sep 15, 2008
The film will be shot using a state-of-the-art camera -- only 10 of whose kind are in the world. ...
07:38 PM, Oct 26, 2007
Match fixing, sex scandals, drunken binges and doping scandals - cricket's scandals go on and on. ...
11:27 PM, Mar 21, 2007
One of the most promising cricket captains whose career ended in a scandal, Hansie Cronje is the subject of a film. ...
08:30 AM, Jan 09, 2007
