The economy of match fixing

The specter of match fixing is raising its head again. I wonder why such a great hallabaloo surrounds this inane activity where the common man (you and me) lose nothing. In a land where legislator fix question in parliament it is not such an earthshaking matter to ball a no-ball in return for some quid. No balls are bowled anyway and they are part of the game. If at all fixing takes place I must say it is being done with elegant finesse. Only sting operations about really nonexistent fixing are thrown up. First up a sting operation is not the same as investigative journalism which is reporting actual events of public importance being brushed under the carpet for personal gains. In a brash language a sting operation is akin to ‘situating the appreciation’. Find a gullible fellow (murga), offer him something he can’t refuse and trap him into doing an indiscreet act. Once the act is done and captured on magnetic media he is made the fall guy. It is a different matter when the President of a national political party, aspiring to Govern, is trapped accepting bribe. When you trap a fringe player who gets a pittance for his trade while all other players around him wallow in millions is sheer bullying. I fail to understand the point to be proved. If it is to establish that there is a constant attempt to fix matches, which we all know is present, the efforts are aimless. On the other hand when an attempt to fix a match with the connivance of authorities in the shady deals is established we have to sit up and act. It is like this; In spite of an efficient police force, intelligence agencies and an hyperactive judiciary, there are murders, dacoities, robberies and a plethora of other crimes committed in the society every day.

These shenanigans of spot foxing are another dimension of fooling the public (You and me). If no balls are being balled so be it. If catches are being dropped let them. As it is, it is not cricket anymore.

So, yesterday instead of watching IPL, I read a book. “Break out Nations” by Ruchir Sharma. In the book Ruchir S attempts to overturn conventional wisdom (if ever there was one I would say) and paints a new panoramic view of what to expect from the world economy in the coming years. It is not about few lakhs of black money…it is about the lives of our children and grandchildren.

I recommend this book. You will like it.