A Speculative Bet

Cricketing world is engulfed in match fixing saga again. Whether the trio under suspension is found guilty and punished or not the drama has been turned into a Pakistan bashing exercise. Corruption in the game must never be tolerated but on the pretext of launching investigation into match and spot fixing an attack of serious proportion has also been launched on the whole Pakistan cricket team and management. Whether it is deliberate or just an illusion created by the way the situation has been handled by ICC it must immediately be addressed to and corrected.
The allegations leveled by the tabloid The Sun are baseless as these are just speculations based on hearsay; telephonic conversation between  a person based in Dubai and a bookie in Delhi.”A source informed The Sun newspaper that a certain scoring pattern would emerge during certain stages of the match and, broadly speaking, that information appeared to be correct,” Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said. The problem is that the concerned cricket boards were not taken into confidence what so ever. This enraged PCB chairman Ijaz Butt and his outbursts resulted in outrage from the ECB and English players. Now they are demanding an apology from Butt otherwise a legal battle can not be ruled out. Butt’s remarks against ICC and ECB are certainly like beating the bush but the way ICC has handled the whole affair demands justification itself.
To predict that certain scoring patterns would emerge during a match is not difficult. The betting mafia and public alike can do that with a fairly good probability. On that basis and especially on a tip-off from a notorious tabloid how can an organization like ICC take such a drastic step? The verbal attack by Butt and then the response from ECB both are thus predictable and understandable. Since the emergence of spot-fixing allegations ICC has made a mockery of itself by continually mishandling the situation.
Take the example of recent group match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lions in Champions league played at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on 21 September. It was a do or die game for both teams as it became a decider for the semi-final spot. I was on-line with a close friend of mine and I told him that the match was fixed. I said, ” I bet it is fixed”. Lions were playing as if they are under a trance. The pitch was a belter and bowling was ordinary; even Virat Kohli bowled two economic overs. The batsmen it seemed were keeping the scoring under check so that the target could be an achievable one for RCB. You could say that McKenzie was playing suspiciously. Then the chase. Lions bowled well till late overs when all of a sudden their line and length vanished. The captain forgot to put the fielders in right positions. In the 17th over Kohli was given leg side dolleys and there were gaps left on the leg side boundary. I told my friend that the match would be over by the 19th over.. At that stage Lions required 43 off 4 overs. They went on to win as predicted. I made good bet but alas no money was involved!
Now on the basis of what a fan like me had predicted, should an investigation be launched? Certainly not. But Haroon Lorgat thinks otherwise.
I sincerely hope that sanity will prevail and sinister campaign to malign Pakistan would end soon.The suspended trio needs a speedy and fair trial. If found guilt, penalize them otherwise let them play. ICC should immediately sit together and devise a plan to get rid of corruption in the game once for all. They should yearn for a clean sport rather than money alone. ICC has become a subsidiary of BCCI. We need a truly democratic and powerful ICC otherwise gentleman’s game will fast become cheat’s game.