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Good men in Indian cricket..
Indian cricket's resurgence began under Pataudi, the cause was advanced by Kapil Dev and later challenged by Sourav Ganguly.
When the country was in turmoil following the match-fixing controversy in 2000, Ganguly burned through the muck and restored the lost faith of a millions. They say a good leader is a dealer in hope and Ganguly gave us hope.
Having grown up in an era when the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly , Kumble played, it is hard to believe that the evil of fixing is back to haunt Indian cricket yet again. Those were men of honour and they took a lot of pride in playing for the country.
Cricket is not just a sport in India and with every spot fixing and match fixing scandal, fans are getting hurt and the love for the game might be getting diminished drop by drop. Dot balls will be seen with suspicion and every unorthodox action in the field is bound to go under the microscope.
I always thought that playing for the country is enough of a motivation and the financial remuneration that comes with the job is an added benefit. At the end of the day I would like to believe that Tendulkar is playing for his love for the game and still gets motivated by playing for his country and not just the millions of dollars he is making every day.
Spot-fixing might have far greater implications than what we seem to think right now. What happens if a captain throws the ball to a bowler and gives him a field to bowl to and the bowler strays in line accidentally? The fans will question it too.
Well, there are people involved in match-fixing or spot-fixing, but isn't good and bad a part of the society we live in. I was lucky enough to witness the golden period of Indian cricket who played the game with utmost honesty and you can't lay a finger on them.
Everytime a Dravid or a Laxman got hit and you looked into their eyes, you could almost feel that they were taking 'one for the country'. It hurts to see that some players are ready to throw away matches in trying to make a quick buck and it is a slap on all those players who have given everything to the sport and the country.
Most of us would still like to think that bulk of the players playing for the country are clean and would still flock to the ground believing in the greatness of the sport. But a couple of more scandals and the most loved sport in India might become the most hated one.
After all what is hatred? Probably love gone bad somewhere.
