Cricket needs the right guardians to curb fixing menace
Harsha Bhogle - Voice of Cricket
What has happened at the PSL is another wake-up call for cricket
Recent events at the Pakistan Super League (and by some accounts, the idea behind them isn't recent!) are disturbing but not surprising; which in effect, makes them even more disturbing.
It would be careless to believe, as I am certain some do, that given their history, this is an issue that affects Pakistan alone. Everybody needs to be vigilant as India and South Africa have discovered in recent years.
Many years ago, when the IPL was in its infancy, I had suggested that the twin concerns before it were match-fixing and the pedigree of the team owners. Nothing since has allowed me to question that thought and the danger from both is as acute as it was then. With greater competition for sponsorship money, and with countries like South Africa looking to their new T20 league to infuse more money into the game, the need to be careful about the source of funds is even greater. Some team owners, as we have seen in the IPL, have been excellent for the tournament, some others, as we have seen here and in other parts of the world, haven't.
Eventually it comes down to the guardians of the league and that is something, amidst the current turbulence in Indian cricket, we cannot lose sight of. There will be a new governing council soon and there will be calls to fill it with cricketers, with cricket lovers and general do-gooders. That would be a risk that Indian cricket cannot take. Yes, you need someone who understands cricket, someone who understands finance and marketing, but just as much you need someone who understands the law and the judicial process and someone with a more investigative bent of mind.
Sport, and in India that still translates largely into cricket, is far too big and complex to be run by sportspeople alone. The ICC, for example, is as much about political manoeuvring as it is about administering cricket and framing the laws and working out Duckworth Lewis and the DRS. And hence the greater need for sport to be run by people who are savvy and possessed of a more contemporary world view.
I foresee, for example, the increased use of analytics in sport; not just in the running of it but in the custody of it. Someone whose judgement I trust greatly told me that big data could be used, and indeed should be, to look for correlations in the murkier side of sport. When he told me of the possibilities, my eyes were wide open. The IPL, and every T20 league around the world, needs policing and big data will become mandatory provided of course, that those running the game are thinking like that. We still hold very amateur views on the running of sport largely because people influencing it haven't kept pace with the passage of time and technology.
I fear too that we are moving towards a phase where cricketers will need to be policed a bit more or certainly, will have to make far greater disclosures than at present. It will be inconvenient and uncomfortable but it will be a minor price to pay for the general good health of a sport like ours that has many predators eyeing it. Almost certainly, India will need a law against the fixing, or even the influencing, of some or all parts of cricket. England were able to make arrests because they do and in India we found ourselves floundering a bit in search of a law that could convict those suspected of foul play.
Cricketers will need mentoring too, and Pakistan needs it more than any other country in the world as cricket lovers there will admit. While that is already happening informally, I won't be surprised if we see systems in place for it. It is something Anil Kumble has been crying out for a long time now but as Rahul Dravid once said, there needs to be the fear of a jail term.
Our game now attracts young men and women from all spheres of life, increasingly from families that aren't very well off. Given the insecurity, and limited duration, of sporting careers, the option of seeking a quick buck can be attractive. Mentorship and the law, and the knowledge that big brother, in the form of big data, is watching, are our defences.
T20 leagues and indeed cricket itself, are no longer mere sporting affairs. They are big businesses that
need stringent auditing and strict governance. I would venture to say that while Kohli and Ashwin are critical to Indian cricket, the right administrators, especially in the states, are just as important. Fixing, in its various incarnations, will never go away (my mother once told me an old Marathi saying: where there is a bud there is a worm) but a vigilant administration, including franchise owners, can make it as difficult as possible.
What has happened at the PSL is a wake-up call. Indeed another wake-up call! Cricket needs T20 and the accompanying leagues but without the unwelcome visitors it can bring with it.
http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/92296/the-need-for-the-right-cricket-administrators-harsha-bhogle-voice-of-cricket
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Franchise based cricket leagues have mushroomed all over the world and given the kind of sponsorship, money, glamour and instant fame they can bring, young players can easily lose focus on values of game. Competitiveness forms the bedrock of any sport and a player's integrity and faith of spectators and administrators of that player being competitive are the underlying ideas that raises any sport almost sacramental levels.
High time administrators not only involve coaching staff but also guides to morally mentor the players.
@WAJsal @The Eagle
