da pixbet： “What is honour
da lvbet： Santhosh S01-Jun-2001″What is honour? A word. What is in that word? Honour. What isthat honour? Air.” — William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part One,V:1, 1598A few weeks back, just before the ‘Report on Corruption inInternational Cricket, April 2001’ was published the Director ofthe Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) of the International CricketCouncil, Sir Paul Condon had made this suggestion that therecords of all players involved in the scam to be deleted.Condon’s words did manage to stir a hornet’s nest as the mediaand the leading scorers – statisticians went on a scathing attackon the former Commissioner of Police in London for such asuggestion. A case was made against him for not really being ableto understand the game of cricket. He was given a clear task bythe ICC; to look into the corruption that was growing like cancerwithin the game. He was not heading a police investigation bywhich he could have got arrest warrants issued against all andsundry who has been involved in the crime.In the last week of May 2000, cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskarsaid that the International Cricket Council (ICC) should deleteall records of any player found guilty and “This is apart fromthe law of the land which will decide on what punishment shouldbe given to them.” Was Gavaskar joking? When people likeGavaskar who has been involved with the game for more than threedecades makes a suggestion, it should not be dismissed away as ajoke. It would be a joke only when people claim that Gavaskardoesn’t understand the game. Condon was put in the dock by themedia for he agreed with Gavaskar’s views.Does the suggestion of deleting records hold any water? And, whatdo we mean by records? Is it the statistics and reference ofplayers on scorecards? A record, for example, is an unsurpassedmeasurement (e.g. A world record in weightlifting). Beforegetting into a debate of the merits of deleting records of aplayer who have been punished for their role in bringing the gameto disrepute, a closer study will give us a clear perspective.Most of the honest players and the administrators do not wish todeface this wonderful game that we all love so much. A fewplayers who worked hand-in-glove with the criminals did manage tomutilate the image of the game. These players should not behonoured of any individual records they created in their playingdays. Ben Johnson lost his gold medal as well as his world recordas the fastest man in the 100 metres after being caught fordoping in the Seoul Olympics. The record doesn’t stay, but thenwe all know for a fact that Johnson ran the distance in 10.79seconds.Kapil Dev scored a hundred from just 74 balls against Sri Lankaat Kanpur in 1986-87 and took over the honour of scoring thefastest hundred in Test match cricket by an Indian. MohammedAzharuddin equaled his feat in 1996-97 against South Africa atKolkata from the same number of balls faced. According to therecord books, Azharuddin shares the record with Kapil Dev.Hansie Cronje holds the record for the fastest fifty by a SouthAfrican in One-Day Internationals. Azharuddin holds the recordfor the fastest hundred by an Indian in ODIs. There must be stillmore personal glories that these two men and the other indictedplayers hold on to in the game. Why should Azharuddins andCronjes be allowed to hold on to any honour in the game?Definitely this is not a silly suggestion, this is something thatICC has to look into with utmost urgency. If and whenAzharuddin’s records are deleted or taken away, Kapil Dev wouldhold the record for the fastest Test match hundred by an Indian,he will not have to share the honour with a name that has broughtthe game to disrepute.More than the match fixing and betting being a cricket problem,it is a larger social problem with the involvement of mafia and awhole host of criminal elements. People have resigned to the ideathat this is a marginal cricket problem, which needs to be dealtby the cricket boards and ICC. From a cricketing point of viewSir Condon’s report is commendable indeed but more has to be doneto address such a grave issue.So far nothing worthy have been done to stop people like MK Guptaand the too many Johns from spinning their vicious web to makehuge amount of money through betting. If there are loopholes inthe law of the land, it has to be addressed to without anyfurther delay. We have paid a heavy price for complacency andcannot afford to keep doing it anymore. If there aren’t enoughlaws to protect us from the presence of criminals, it is theresponsibility of the lawmakers of the country to get into theact. We simply cannot afford to blame that too on the effects ofcolonialism or on the efficiency of a former English cop.Dealing with the criminals should be left to the professionals.Cricket can definitely deal with issues at a cricketing level. Itis about time we had a debate about stripping the individualhonours that stand in the name of the tainted players. Gavaskar is thepresent chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee-Playing. If hissuggestion that was made exactly a year ago has not been putthrough a proper debate to lead to a conclusive action, we areindeed still struggling with our present.
