Thinking Aloud

Prem Panicker

Mid-way through another working week, a few random thoughts...

...So the Mark Waugh imbroglio goes on, and on, and on. Richie Benaud, no less, becomes the latest to go on the Waugh-path -- vide his statement, carried in the Australian media, in defence of 'Junior'. Apparently -- so Benaud says -- it ain't that Mark Waugh didn't want to co-operate with the investigation. It is merely that Waugh wanted the ACB to first send him the questions that would be asked -- apparently so that he could, in consultation with his lawyers, come up with the right answers.
Which, as you will admit, is fair dinkum -- and if the cribbers point out that such an attitude is hardly indicative of a man with nothing on his mind but his hair, let said cribbers go jump. Right?

...So Shane Warne continues to provide us this day our daily laugh -- and we, like the Shakespearian character, laugh that we may not weep. I mean, this gent -- "the greatest spinner of all time", the "man with his sights on 500 wickets" and so on and so forth -- is so upset at being hit for a couple of sixes that he uses language hardly in keeping with the image of a sportsman. I mean, we all use the odd f-word -- the issue here is the occasion. You and I, and the rest of us average Joes, would probably use the word over a beer-y argument with friends -- but not, unless you have an extraordinarily tumultous home life, to mom and pop in the family dressing room. Similarly, you would expect a player to cut loose with the odd word in the privacy of the team dressing room -- but not on the field of play.
And yet, and yet. Warne expresses regret -- not for what he said, not for his behaviour, but for the fact that the stump mikes picked up his utterances. So now we know where the fault really lies -- in those pesky, intrusive stump mikes that invade a bloke's privacy. And maybe that is why the match referee has been mum on the issue -- not a word from said match referee, no caution, no reprimand, no enquiry, even. I won't even breathe a word, here, of how when an Indian player says 'good morning' in too loud a voice, the awful majesty of cricketing law jumps on him with fangs bared -- if I were to make that suggestion, in would flow the stream of letters suggesting I have a persecution complex.
So... mum's the word. But would it be in order to make one teensy little suggestion? Would the match referee, now seemingly without a care in the world and any item requiring attention on his agenda, hold an inquiry into the wretch who planted that damned stump mike? After all, SOMEONE has to be held responsible -- and Warne very rightly puts the blame on the stump mike, so could we have our match referee, in the fearless fashion he is famed for, suspend the stump mike for a game? He could make that a suspended suspension, while he is about it.

...So Azhar has gone and done it. Moved the court, that is. Quite a good thing, actually -- instead of players and the Board slanging each other in the media, let's have them all get into court and let it all hang out. Players and board alike have been fudging, hiding stuff about themselves while airing dirty linen about the other -- out there in court, the lid will get blown off, and a lot of stuff will come out in the open. There is, though, one little bit that sticks in the craw. If you notice, the suit filed in court relates to only one question -- can the BCCI ban a player? Which narrows the issue down to a question of employer-employee relations. The real question, the one we would all like definitive answers to, is -- did the players actually fix matches? And there is only one way to definitively answer that -- have the players go up against the CBI.
Which is why I would like to see one of the players -- Jadeja, Azhar, whoever -- file a case, say of defamation of character, against the CBI. After all, the CBI was the body that accused them, if the accusation is false then there is a definite case of libel, of defamation. Filing such a case would bring the CBI into court, the CBI would be forced to parade all the proofs it has collected, and the courts could then assess said evidence and tell us, once for all, if the players are guilty or no. But that can happen only if the players actually file against the CBI -- which, I am afraid, they won't. And that tells me something.

...So Nayan Mongia is back in the squad -- or rather, among the probables from which list the final squad will be picked. Interesting, that. Even more interesting, when you consider the BCCI's response to the CBI charge-sheet. Remember? The CBI had accused the Board of neglecting the spectre of match-fixing, of turning a deaf ear to the whispers, and thus allowing the malaise to flourish unchecked. In its statement in defense, the Board went, who, me? (*hands on hips, outraged glare*) Negligent? What nonsense! And now, a direct quote from the Board's own response: "There was only one instance in October 1994 when Manoj Prabhkar and Nayan Mongia had indulged in slow batting in a One-Day International against the West Indies at Kanpur. The term “match fixing” was unknown in those days. Yet, the Board (as well as the ICC Referee appointed for the match) had lost no time in taking actions against the concerned players for not playing according to the spirit of the game.
As mentioned earlier, the BCCI was the first cricket Board to take any decisive action against the players the moment it was brought to its notice that the concerned players had not performed in the spirit of the game." How nice. So now we know that the Board has felt in the past that Mongia did not play in the spirit of the game. At that time, the board did not know of match-fixing -- in other words, did not know WHY Mongia did not play 'in the spirit of the game'. Nor did it think to find out. But never mind that -- have you ever wondered why the self-same board has always been in a hurry to rehabilitate the gent?

...So... well, never mind, this stream of conciousness thing has gone on long enough for today. So, here, an end. Till tomorrow, adios...

Design: Devyani Chandwarkar
Illustration: Dominic Xavier