Placed on a unique pedestal of irony, Indian cricket has simply been reduced to a mockery with none to take the proper course of action against the many condemning pollutants affecting its otherwise towering stature.
The all-clear given to the big-guns in the IPL spot-fixing activities by the two-man investigative committee has understandably silenced all the hue-and-cry being raised about the various underhanded activities swirling through the Indian cricketing fold.
The timing couldn’t have more predictable. The success of the Indian cricket team in three of its immediate overseas tourneys following the IPL has already put the IPL controversies on the backburner of the fans’ minds.
A massive win at the Champions Trophy followed by a phoenix-esque series win at the Caribbean topped by a colossal one-sided victory over Zimbabwe; what more does a fan need to think about? Not much, in the here and now.
Not many still wonder about Dhoni’s alleged business associations with a sports management company. His heroics at the Caribbean, leading India to victory after being hit by injury are more lingering. He’s back to being the captain of choice, the man who leads his team to success, no matter how drastic the situation. Bygones have indeed been bygones.
The Indian police are still trying to sort out the loose ends even as the probing committee gives its univocal verdict, allowing a certain influential BCCI leader to get back to his erstwhile position. A position that he had conveniently vacated, to placate the numerous voices of opposition that rose during the months of turbulence.
The incumbent person currently manning the position promised a clean-up act as never seen before in the history of the sport. At that time, those words promised a new dawn for the sport, a brightened speck in the horizon amidst the deep cover of darkness.
Now, with the probing committee coming with this blatant decree that literally falsifies the numerous exposes, those promises somehow seem redundant. Exasperation vies with annoyance even as bleak thoughts flow rapidly like pictures cascading and melding into one another.
Cricket – the crowd puller, the unquestionable favourite; a veritable sport of choice among the people, spread across diverse age-groups and communities unifying the nation like no other. The sport’s acceptance has been so profound that it’s an Indian who has made his way into almost all of the cricketing record books.
When a new tournament realm was pioneered within the sport’s varied and versatile ranks, none applauded as loudly as the Indians did. Shameful it was then to see this new realm’s greatness being reduced to tatters, thanks to greed and avarice.
It was only hoped that the wrongdoers be punished as a befitting consequence. But thanks to the farcical proceedings and façade of rightness positioned to cover the still-prevailing rot within, even that hope’s been blown to smithereens.
The future of the sport now lies in uncertainty. The same people to takeover as before unanimously elected with nothing to cast them aside. Could it have been prevented, one asks? Could there have been a better well-thought course of action without clout and influence to alter decisions and names and associations by names didn’t interfere with the proceedings during its run?
But none of that have occurred presently and the truth is said to have been upheld finally.
Yet, the naive mind asks one last question, not wanting to give up: if this indeed were the truth, what then were the lies and who exactly, were the liars?
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