Match Fixing

MATCH FIXING

Watching India play against Pakistan in the semifinal match on a big screen in a popular suburban bar is what took me to realize the potent of the words "cricket fever" in a country like India.

A few friends sitting next to me were busy laying their bets on an undeserving team on the pretext of a statistical theorom which says that a team, a company stock or a racing horse that is been look forward to make big is the one who loses. A somewhat relation to the 80-20 principle is all I could make out of that.

Things progressed in the match, India kept tightening its screws on getting a hold of the semifinal title and my friends kept believing that there was a turning point that would turn the tables in Pakistan's favor. Also, one of the broadcast messages that I received on my BlackBerry messenger said "India will bat first and make a total close to 250 runs. Sehwag will be out before he makes a 50 (he has been already paid Rs.23 crore in USB swiss bank). Sachin 95-98 out. Pak will win by just 3 wickets in last 2 balls, for which Rs.251 crore paid to India. Shocked?". Honestly, I wasn't shocked for a simple reason that I received 10 such messages on that day and I was sure that it had to loosely tally on one of the broadcast messages I received on that particular day.

I am not of the opinion that fixing is obsolete, it happens for sure maybe we may need to remove the word "match" out of "match fixing". Because, I am of a stern belief that a few people in a squad of 16 can be corrupt, but not all of them. There can be attempts made to turn the result of a match through a group of fixers in the team but the result cannot be fixed.

Below mentioned are a few excerpts out of a number of discussions that I had over match fixing with my friends and colleagues:

1) Sachin got 4 lives in the match. He paid Pakistani's for each catch dropped.

2) Srilanka is a poor country, it may need funds to sustain the economic crises, so the country has taken Rs. 400 crores from Indian government to lose the World Cup final match.

3) World Cup is taking place in India, so India has to take the cup.

4) Virat Kohli has amassed as much as 400 crores of rupees to get out on a duck against SriLanka in the final.

5) India is a stronger team than SriLanka on paper, so if India wins-the match is not fixed and vice-versa.

I am not going to discuss each of the above mentioned statements in detail, but would request all my readers to think logically on the above mentioned and arrive at their own opinions than believing is insane theories related to match fixing.

The above post comes from a person who played First Class level cricket for 6 years of his life before meeting with an accident to discontinue his cricket career. 

Cricket as a game in our country is very transparent right from school level to Ranji trophy. Prestigious bodies like Mumbai Cricket Association and BCCI always believed in the 'perform or perish' criteria for team selection.

My courtship with the game went on for 9 years and how would you give up on your love towards the game which always stayed at the back of your mind day in and day out?

And if you were to ask me if I would fix a match for a couple of crore rupees? My answer would be a straight NO ! The simple reason to which would be LOVE for the game and the country.

Bleeding Blue, Always !!!