Cricketers – Are They Good At Batting Or Betting?

[IbLIsH]

If India’s Sachin Tendulkar (the world record holder for
highest runs in the one-day cricket) is offered couple
of Million Pound Sterling for getting out at a very low
score just in a match or if the Indian bowler Irfan Pathan is
offered half a million pounds for giving away too many
easy runs and not getting any player out, will they be
able to resist the temptation?

What will Pakistani opening pair do if they are offered
huge sums of money for getting out at paltry score? Are
Pakistani batsmen like Yousuf and Inzimam devout Muslims
as they appear to be and would they reject offers of a
million dollar for getting out at paltry score in just
one match?

What was the actual reason South Africa got defeated by
low rated Bangladesh? Was it to avoid clash with the
world champion Australia in the semi-final or something else?

How could non-professional team of Ireland beat Pakistan
winners of 1992 World cup and holders of third place in
International ranking? Ireland got badly mauled by Australia
in their league match in super 8 in barely 22 overs.

When will the mystery of death or murder of Bob Muller
(Pakistan coach and Englishman settled in South Africa)
be solved? Was there any security lapse on the part of
organizers of the World cup as the murder took place soon
after Pakistan’s defeat by Ireland? Was Bob really going
to expose some match fixing scandals in his book that he
was writing? Why his family is denying that?

These are the question and observations that skeptics are
asking and believe that they cannot be answered with
certainty either way. In India devout cricket fans are
burning effigies of their players.

Many skeptics believe that the dishonorable exit of India
and Pakistan from the World Cup’s super 8 is not a fluke
of Bangladesh and Ireland. For most players the match
fixing big bribes guarantee prosperous future, whereas
their selection for the next event could not guaranteed.
Pakistani Cricket veteran Sarfraz Nawaz is right in demanding
a judicial inquiry for Pakistani team’s conduct in the
world cup 2007.

Gambling is child of greed and next kin of selfishness that
lures people to mischief and dishonesty for the sake of
satisfaction of satanic desires. Besides horse racing
sports events provide opportunities for betting. It is
said that heavies betting is done on football matches in
Europe and on baseball and basketball in US and Canada. The
royal game of cricket is no exception. The craze for cricket
in India, Pakistan, Australia, South Africa, England, Sri
Lanka and other parts of the world lead many fans to indulge
in friendly betting on outcome of the match or individual
performance and for years this craze has been exploited by
the underworld to organize big business. Depending upon the
results of the game and individual scores of the players the
underworld is said to be accepting bets and influencing the
results by match fixing by buying out umpires and players
individually for one event or the other.

Bombay and Dubai are considered the biggest centers from
where the underworld accepts bets on cricket, but they
operate in almost all the cities in UK, Australia, South
Africa, New Zeland, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Canada etc.

Deaths of former South African captain and Pakistan’s coach
Bob Woolmer (an Englishman settled in South Africa) are
suspected to have been planned by the underworld who are said
to be purchasing players and umpires to fix matches - often
when the game is in progress. Players from India, Pakistan and
South Africa are not very smart and got caught but players
in most other countries are too smart and remain clean!

Not long ago separate judicial inquiries were held in India
and Pakistan Great Indian players like Azharuddin and Jadeja
were condemned for indulging in match fixing and in Pakistan
the great players like Salim Malik were banned and aspersions
were cast on -one of highest wicket taking bowler of the
one day international cricket - Wasim Akram, Inzimam and a
few others had to face embarrassing moments as there were
charges against them of cooperating with the underworld in
match fixing. A committee has been appointed in Pakistan by
the Dr. Nasim Ashraf, Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Control
Board to look into the reasons for the unexpected exit of
Pakistan cricket team from the top 8 league matches. But
Pakistan’s veteran bowler Sarfraz Nawaz and former PCB Chief
Sheharyar Khan are right in saying that the committee cannot
do the justice to the job. We need another judicial probe.