Who decides the fate of sportspersons found guilty of misconduct on and off the field? Sports bodies, governments or the law of the land. Ideally it should be a combination of all, since the framework of laws did not clearly envisage situations like match fixing.
So a cricketer like Mohammad Azharuddin, who is a class act to watch while on a flow, was slapped a life ban in 2001 on match fixing charges, along with Ajay Sharma. Ajay Jadeja and Nikhil Chopra got a five year ban.
The probe was conducted by the country’s top investigator K Madhavan. Obviously, there’s little scope for an error.
Now given the intriguing politics that stalks the Board of Control for Cricket in India and its uneasy love-hate relationship with ICC, the BCCI has decided to honour the tainted captain.
The reasons are innocuous: BCCI says other cricket boards do not come down so heavily on its erring stars. If that is the case, the way out is not to award a honor for an erring cricketer but to take up the matter at appropriate levels so that there are no double standards.
What if the court exonerates the fallen Indian idol in future? Well then give him a hero’s welcome.
But statements of various BCCI functionaries on the issue goes off track to mention contracts awarded to South African and London based firms. So clearly the matter is not coming to the rescue of a fallen icon, but the lure of money. Not done.
