It has only  been a couple of years since the last spot fixing case hit the headlines. The Pakistani players who were involved in the case were sentenced to imprisonment and banned from playing the ‘gentleman’s game‘. Is cricket really anymore a gentleman’s game? The number of cases that have come up in the recent past have obviously been a cause of concern for most of the fans. In an attempt to make quick money, the players sell themselves and resort to bowling wides, no-balls or even losing their wicket at a crucial stage in the match.
The recent revelations that members of the Rajasthan Royals team which is led by ‘The wall of Indian cricket’, who is a true gentleman in every way, resorted to match fixing. Rahul Dravid, who led his team from the front and has put them in the top three spot must be a broken captain for he has been back stabbed by his team mates who he trusted and put faith in.
Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila, the players allegedly a part of the spot fixing scam, have been arrested. The Delhi police, who have been investigating spot fixing for the past 6 months, found these players to be a part of the scam. This news comes as a shock to most people as all three are Indian players.
Match fixing and spot fixing cases have rocked the world many times, be it the recent one involving Pakistani players or the old cases of Hansie Cronje and some of his South African counter parts indulging in match fixing due to which the then South African captain Hansie Cronje was banned for life from the sport.
Gambling is a disease which is affecting the young players who are just entering the arena of cricket and, in the race to make a quick buck, get involved in such scandals. Players need to understand that money is not everything and earning a name and place in the fans hearts is more important. They should try to emulate senior players like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar etc. and make them role models for the way they act on and off the field.
If every young aspiring cricketer understands this, then the match fixing and spot fixing cases will come down considerably helping recover cricket’s lost sheen and make cricket the gentleman’s game which it used to be.