This is all rather depressing.
The only positive is the slick work of the Delhi police.
However, even with excellent police work, the chance of snuffing out the cronies and their complete lack of dedication to the well-being of cricket is at best minimal, because, as you point out, the big questions are not questions of legality, but instead integrity and morals.
It may well be perfectly legal to Srinivasan to be owner of the CSK and an IPL director, but it sure as hell ain't moral. Whether he was the architect of fixing or not - and lets face it, he was perfectly placed to be and it's very likely that he at least knew what was going on - the actual fixing is far less important in the long run than agendas that run completely counter to the interests of Indian and world cricket. And the reality is that the IPL and BCCI has shown itself to be stuffed full of people who have their own agendas.
Yes you are right. It is very depressing which is why people like myself are so worked up . . . it is our own helplessness to do anything about it that hurts the most. There is no one, no one at all, amongst those one could normally expect results from to look up to.
The BCCI we all know so we expect nothing even after Srinivasan goes. Dalmiya, Bindra, Pawar, Srinivasan and whoever comes next (Jaitley or anyone else) they all have vested interests and cricket is not a priority with any of them.
The ICC is behaving like we the third world countries used to behave once and took all the nonsense from the global powers who provided us with food (and much else) to feed our starving millions. Of course, ICC's flock is not going to starve but those who can stand up to BCCI and its money power are in a minority. The former third world countries are easier to buy the votes of and this works fine for BCCI. If ICC was to call BCCI's bluff the latter would collapse if international cricket against the top nations was denied them. BCCI may threaten to divide the cricketing world (a kind of black vs white divide if you dont mind the unintended racial undertones) but this wont sustain and more nations in BCCI's block today when it comes to voting will have a rethink. Giving in to BCCI is much worse than giving in to Packer and with much greater and far-reaching negative fall outs.
The politicians are not going to do anything since, inspite of tearing each other (opponents) to shreds in and outside Parliament they seem to be in one cosy club in the air conditioned offices of the BCCI. It is amazing how they scratch each others back when faced with an external threat to the elite-club that BCCI has become. Their internal fueds within BCCI remain just that - internal fueds. It is no surprise that Dalmiys, so unceremoniously and publicly ousted by the current set was the host for dinner to the BCCI management committee members last night. Not just that, most of them, including Srinivasan, met him personally, it appears, on a one to one basis, before the dinner. What can you expect from this coterie. So any talk of Pawar versus Srinivasan etc is useless as far as we the Indian fans are concerned.
The police, though they have done a commendable job so far, have their political masters whose interests, unfortunately, are political at best. So the police can be made to do what they are told. Like it or not, in our country that is the round reality.
The players particularly the former greats and seniors are the biggest disappointment. Gavaskar and Shastri have contracts with BCCI and are paid millions every year. Their silence, though deafening, is completely on expected lines. Even Sanjay Manjrekar, who till last year was the one outspoken critic has been given a contract this year and he too is now a monk. Enough said.
The journalists Some like Harsha Bhogle and Ayaz Memon who are widely read and write well have become extremely soft and any criticism is couched in laudatory terms, if at all. We do not have any Ian Chappells in the main stream. Bhogle is in the same boat as Sunil and Ravi being a commentator and Memon has been doing commentary off and on as well. It is terrrible that the TV channels are not allowed to pick their own commentators. Those who are chosen have a gag order. You cant talk against BCCI, you cant talk against IPL. You cant talk in favour of UDRS and so on. Think about it. What kind of a regime does this kind of gagging exist in? How are we tolerating it.
There is the odd brave and sane voice - Pradeep Magazine immediately comes to mind - but how many of you hear them. Magazine was only seen once by me in the last four days of TV debating panels across four mainstream News channels. And even here, the anchor was so much in awe of the BCCI representative from J&K , Aslam Goni, that he allowed the latter to completely monopolise the debate making a mockery of the panel discussion. Somehow, we seem to be 'turned on' by those who rave and rant at the higher decibel levels and those who talk sense but politely and softly like Pradeep Magazine does, are less listened to by the masses.
The electronic Media is one tiny ray of hope but their attention span is only as long as that between this scandal and the next.
So what can the cricket fan do. Not much one could say but it is not absolutely true.
All those who are currently running the game and those who will run it in the future, in this country at least, are interested only in the moolah and the power which are really one and the same thing. Where does this come from? From the sponsors and the advertisers. Why do the sponsors and advertisers give the money? Because they expect you and I to buy their products. How do they know we will buy their products? They don't know but they make a guess from the numbers on the ground and the numbers who watch on TV - TRP ratings.
So. This is what is in our hands.
Send out a message to the sponsors and the advertisers that we do not like the product they are helping BCCI to sell. So we do not intend to buy it. We will not watch the games at the grounds or on TV. They can forget about trying to make us see their ads between breaks for our eyes are not going to be looking in that direction.
This and the negative publicity is the only thing that will make the sponsors and advertisers back off. The ripple effect will be as dramatic as our determination to do what we need to do and the number of us who understand that this is what we MUST do.
This is no pipe dream. This is doable. Much more importantly this is our only chance to get rid of this menace.
Do it and watch how the electronic media takes up the cause with increased vigour.
Show that the majority of Indians want this change and watch how the politicians change their tune.
Do this and watch the more concerned and right thinking former cricketers coming together to help out.
This is a possibility, howsoever remote, it is the only one. But it requires the millions of fans to decide they wont be taken for a ride anymore. If not stay on. It is a ride some of you enjoy anyway
