The true story of match-fixing

FACING BOUNCERS: West Indies batsman Samuels is accused of tipping bookie in January.

            

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New Delhi: In the last couple of days, the cricket world has had to relive the ghosts of match-fixing after the Nagpur Police accused West Indian cricketer Marlon Samuels of passing on team information to a bookie.

But amidst all the speculation where does the truth lie? On a special show on the latest cricket controversy, an expert panel on Friday night tried to demystify the latest controversy and bring forth the true story.

The expert panel comprised former India captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth, BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla, Associate Editor of DNA Ayaz Memon, Nagpur Police commissioner S P S Yadav and businessman Kishore Kumar, who used to be a heavy cricket better. CNN-IBN’s Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai anchored the debate.

While West Indies captain Brian Lara has backed his young player, his cricket board says it will launch a probe. The International Cricket Council is expected to send a team to Nagpur, but still hasn't committed itself to just what kind of a probe it will launch.

So has Lara jumped the gun a bit or is it just a captain defending a young player?

“I don’t know what the truth is, but the media is playing it up too much by calling it match-fixing. Match-fixing is when five of the top players in a team under perform and try and lose the match. By playing it up so much, the media is not only spoiling the image of cricketers, it is also spoiling the reputation of India,” said Krishnamachari Srikkanth.

However, there is a sense that BCCI (Board for Control of Cricket in India) is passing the buck and in the process, India’s reputation is being spoiled. BCCI has passed the case on to the ICC, one is not sure of the kind of probe the ICC is going to launch. Is BCCI trying to protect West Indies team at the time of the World Cup?