I will start off with updates from the spot−fixing scandal that I mentioned in my last column. The three Pakistani players suspected to be a part of the scandal have been temporarily suspended from playing cricket by International Cricket Council (ICC). Two of them have appealed the ban, and the investigations should be completed within a month. The investigation team has been looking into games played by Pakistan prior to the game against England, with one test match against Australia last year under particularly intense scrutiny.
The reaction of the the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been particularly disappointing. Instead of trying to internally reflect on what has gone wrong in the system, they have lashed out at the ICC. They have called it a "conspiracy" against Pakistan Cricket, and board president Ijaz Butt absurdly suggested that it was the English players who had thrown away a game for money.
The ICC has now set out a set of guidelines that the PCB has to implement; if it fails to do so, it will be temporarily banned from playing cricket. The PCB, despite being abjectly humiliated by the ICC, has still maintained its stubborn stance. It should have implemented these steps 20 years ago when cricket first faced the match−fixing scandal. A few Pakistani cricketers had been implicated in "match−fixing," a graver form of spot−fixing where the entire result of a match is manipulated to line the pockets of a greedy few.
Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum, a Pakistani judge, formulated a set of guidelines in 2000 to be implemented in order to ensure that Pakistani cricket never suffered the same humiliation again. He also handed out very harsh punishments to act as a deterrent to the cricketers of future generations.
Unfortunately, the PCB did not implement the orders at the time, and the appalling result is there for all to see. This ultimatum issued by the ICC is the final nail in the coffin for the PCB, and if it does not get its act together, it might be a while before we get to see a Pakistani team in action again.
The most shocking match−fixing incident in cricket history was the Hansie Cronje scandal. Hansie Cronje was a former captain of the South African team. He led South Africa to an aura of respectability in international cricket and was revered all over the world. Then, a shocking expose by the New Delhi police in 2000 destroyed the citadel that Cronje built for himself.
Cronje tried to fix matches and encouraged his teammates do the same for a mere total of $65,000. The national hero was shamed as he tearfully admitted his guilt in front of a stunned congregation of media and fans.
As an excitable 10−year−old at the time — waving my plastic bat around to imitate Sachin Tendulkar's shot that I would see on TV — I was naive in my belief that cricketers played cricket for the love of the game. I could not believe that Cronje was not playing to see his country's flag waving proudly among the other cricketing nations. I doubt Cronje himself could believe that he had thrown away a legacy for a sum of money. Sadly, Cronje died two years after the admission in a plane crash, ending a career that promised so much yet faltered when its integrity was questioned.
Even as a Liverpool FC hater, I really admire former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly's quote: "Some people think football is a matter of life and death. ... I can assure them it is much more serious than that." Cricket is also a way of life and the only means of joy for countless people around the world, where some starve themselves for a day just so they can buy a ticket to watch their team play. Cricketers have a duty to be faithful to those fans and, more importantly, to be true to themselves.
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Avinash Asthana is a junior majoring in computer science. He can be reached at Avinash.Asthana@tufts.edu.
