Match fixing: The rot is in the system of cricket not IPL

It is sheer naivete to think that match fixing, or its minor version spot fixing, can exist with the players alone being involved. There is complete prohibition of alchohol in Gujarat. It does not mean that people have stopped drinking; it only means that the revenues that would have otherwise accrued to the state go into illegal channels and spawn a huge underworld with enormous political clout.

Gambling is banned in India. Does that mean people do not indulge in betting? They do with the fullest gusto. Only the money and profits so generated are illegal and go into funding illegal activities. Betting is legal in most advanced countries, and earns huge revenue for the exchequer.

Look at the Indian cricket system. In spite of the enormous riches that the BCCI shares with the state associations, hardly any association runs itself professionally. Their selection systems are opaque at best, and scandalous oftener.

Their officials make merry at the expense of the players. Many associations have a well-oiled system of pocketing players’ earnings. Selectors run their own academies and charge hefty fees. State officials take up franchisee employment. The classic cases of BCCI officials having overt and covert stakes is too well known to be repeated.

Though the overt stake is much reviled, it is the covert system of riches on offer which is eating into the vitals of the system of Indian cricket. Apart from the hypocrisy of honorary jobs and non-profit character of different associations, the IPL has also brought a massive corrupting penumbra into the system which is not being acknowledged by most.

I will first deal with the generic problem in Indian cricket before touching the specifics of IPL.

One player of an association, who had been in his Ranji squad but was not getting an opportunity to play in the first XI, once approached me for counselling. He said that a Plate team was ready to guarantee him a regular place in the first XI if he parted with 50 per cent of his match fee. Poor guy, I thought. His own state selectors were all busy marketing their academies on the strength of their capacity to influence selections, so how would he stand a chance even if he performed well in the domestic competitions.

In many state associations, most committee officials make a minimum of Rs. 10 lakh each year through various corrupt methodologies. If you so much as ask a question, you are sure to earn the wrath of the majority. Many league and district teams charge premium from players and pocket their match fees. The BCCI, however, continues to share its revenue equally with all state associations irrespective of their spending on cricket. Many state associations do not have even a stage league. What is happening in Goa or Delhi is a deep-rooted malaise in the system. From time to time, we see the symptoms as manifestations of this malaise, treat these symptoms much like a homeopath and go back into deep slumber. There is no attempt at diagnosis and complete treatment.

The malaise lies in the completely unprofessional structure of the BCCI and the state associations. The structure of the BCCI and its units was designed sometime in the 1940s-50s to cater to a leisurely, gentlemanly game played by princes and amateurs. Through the sixties, a bit of professionalisation among the players started to happen. The Rajasthan team which played seven finals against Bombay in the sixties was almost entirely composed of players brought from Bombay by the then Mewar Maharana. In the sixties and seventies, banks and some private institutions started employing cricket players who represented various corporate teams in different circuits, mainly in metro cities. A job in a bank, or Railways was a big motivation for many players in those times.

In the aftermath of the famous Cricket Association of Bengal case, which loosened Doordarshan’s monopoly on telecast of cricket, money started coming into cricket. It became huge after 2004. After IPL, it has touched dizzy dimensions. While this has brought a welcome change to the cricket scenario, it has also sharpened the dichotomy between huge amounts of money being spent by a system which essentially belongs to the pre-independence era.

Most of the state associations are registered under archaic laws like the Societies’ Acts or Trust Acts which do not have very exacting accountability requirements. As a result, there has been a massive ingress of corrupt elements into the system, usually led by the local politicians. Attracted by the visibility and glamour offered by cricket, and a lack of accountability regime, every kind of riff-raff has latched on to these power seekers and the result is stinking corruption in every walk of cricket. Be it selections, appointment of officials, award of contracts, travel and stay of teams and officials, event hosting and what have you, commission taking has become the unwritten norm among cricket officials. It is through this background prism that you have to view this match fixing/spot fixing menace.

Recently, the central minister heading RCA simply outsourced 2.3 crore worth of event management to a totally unheard of entity for performing works which had already been completed, and that too without following any procedures. Dark stories of commission taking are doing the rounds and the incident has been widely reported. The association gets its entire fund from the BCCI but the board will do nothing as it may annoy a powerful minister and jeopardize a vote.

The scam in the stadium construction in association after association has spawned an endemic saga of corruption, but neither BCCI, nor the various governments seem to take notice. The Hyderabad stadium is under a cloud, the Mumbai association has bankrupted itself only in renovation works! A number of associations are run like personal fiefdoms and people who try and bring in reforms are hounded out. In such a situation, how can we blame the players alone for falling prey to various temptations?

Players initially started hiring agents for managing their endorsements in the immediate post-Doordarshan era. Over the years, the agents realized that if they hired a player, they could make money only if they could ensure his presence in the Indian team. This gave rise to a nexus. Then came the bonanza of the IPL, and even players who could not hope to get any endorsements also started hiring agents. What for, one may ask. The reason is only too obvious. The agent has mutated and diversified. There was an infamous gang when Sourav was the captain and many attribute his downfall to all other interested parties ganging up against that gang. There are always dark suggestions about how MS Dhoni’s agent, who also manages three other players, gets his way around the selection panels. There is also this talk about how agents influence selections of lesser teams like the India ‘A’ and Uner-19 with long term plans. Not for nothing have RP Singh and Jalaj Saxena’s selections in the India ‘A’ team raised eyebrows. Selections of players like Jalaj Saxena and Mohnish Mishra in various Zonal and India teams has pointed to a growing nexus. FIFA registers and regulates agents, but BCCI simply ignores the problem.

IPL has brought a unique system of profiteering in its wake. The owners have little knowledge of cricket. The people they choose to run their cricket operations run it as a private enterprise. There are no norms for selections, only some trials. A 2-or-3-hour trial leaves so much room for subjectivity that selection becomes a completely arbitrary process in the IPL teams, even farcical. This gives a unique opportunity for wheeling dealing.

You may be the best performer in the Ranji or domestic T20 competitions, but the wise men of a franchisee cricket operation may not think much of you at all.

Look at the best performers of Ranji Trophy of the current season. Almost all are warming the dug-outs. A boy like Robin Bisht, with over 1200 runs in first class cricket this season, is not even in the travelling squad of his IPL team and a standout performer like Rituraj Singh doesn’t even get selected in any IPL team. Abhinav Mukund and Cheteshwar Pujara have hardly been seen. However, even bit players from certain states get into IPL teams. Who is Rahul Shukla in MI and how does he get a game ahead of Dhawal Kulkarni? Who is Veer Pratap Singh? Certainly, there is something else at work. The latest trend is that of journalists and former cricket players turning into agents. Imagine the scenario when this trend turns into a flood.

The IPL selection and auction rules are incomprehensible. Uncapped players of other countries are in the auction but the Indian players, who should be the ones to benefit, are not. The whole Manish Pandey episode happened because of this inane provision. To cap that, there is this trading window, which is almost completely agent driven. The BCCI is not willing to frame a rule which compels the local franchisees to hire the best domestic performers from the state in which they are housed. This requires a re-look urgently.

Though I have always opposed governmental interference in sports, yet with the people at the helm unable to self regulate, time has come for an independent regulator for sports, much like the TRAI and Company Law Board. Even in states, such a regulator is the crying need of hour, if for nothing else, then to at least look into the financial bunglings of the cricket associations of various states.

To sum up, match fixing or even spot fixing is a systemic problem. This problem needs to be addressed by reforming the whole system of cricket functioning, and not just IPL. Otherwise there will be no escape from such incidents.

The writer is a principal secretary in the Rajasthan Government and a former president of Rajasthan Cricket Association
Follow him on Twitter: @Sanjay_Dixit
The views expressed are personal