With its much tom-tomed Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) having failed miserably in all its efforts and having taken with it millions of dollars down the drain, the ICC had to think of some other way of baring its teeth. Consequently, it has come up with two ridiculous proposals that not only questions the integrity of all players, but also heaps insult on them and their controlling bodies.
The first is the appointment of under-cover agents to function as decoys (for bookies) and dangle juicy carrots before the players to see whether they bite the temptation.
The second is the proposal for mandatory signing of anti-corruption declaration by all players. The Pakistan Cricket Board is the first to get such declarations signed by its players. They were indeed pressurized into toeing the line with a threat of suspension.
What is the ICC setting out to do? Is it dealing with professional cricketers or a bunch of delinquents, if not prospective criminals? To make things more complicated, the ICC is speaking in two voices. One asserts, the other denies.
Take just the Suresh Raina case. A London newspaper quotes the ICC sources and the Sri Lanka Board to make its kite-flying story more convincing that the Indian batsman was seen with an alleged bookmaker’s companion. Both SLCB and ICC have denied any such incident.
By now, we should know that this is all a part of the Oriental illusion, from which some sections of the media suffer. All evil of match fixing exists only in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. What is even more harm causing is that young, emerging players are deliberately targeted when they are on the threshold of great achievements.
Last summer in England, it was 19-year old Pakistani fast-bowler Mohammed Aamer, who was clubbed with two others on spot fixing charges. Now it is the new Indian batting sensation Suresh Raina. The only player in the worlds to score centuries in all three forms of the game.
What was held against Raina, by the newspaper story, was that he was seen in the company of a lady, whom it suspected to be a bookmaker’s aide, as if they have been given uniforms. As it turned out to be, the lady in question is a leading agent for the corporate world to sign up the players for ad campaigns. Does this not mean that they are now infringing on the privacy of players?
Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat appears to be the sole spokesman for the ICC and he, more often than not, contradicts himself. Why isn’t Sharad Pawar, as the president of ICC, speaking on all these issues? One is yet to hear a word from him. It is high time for him to take a stand that the ICC should not be used to unnecessarily malign some cricketers with unfounded charges.
