Most of us, especially those from the test playing nations have a short term memory. Not as short as Ghajini’s protagonist but it could get shorter than that if situation demands. Match fixing controversy happened long back, so long that there were not even 25% of the news television channels we have today. And we had other things to focus on like, whose going to lead the team, who will replace him, why did he cry on TV etc.
We never worried if those who were implicated in the match fixing scandal showed any remorse. I don’t think anybody did, everybody who was involved was so very focused on getting his name exonerated. This process of exoneration went on till you and I got bored and the news channels failed to rake that extra 1% viewership.
And now you see him in that same TV channel which showed him as a villain who spoilt a sagely games image. He is now the expert on anything cricket with respect to that channel. I vividly remember the days when he touched upon discipline & integrity among other things.
The other gentleman is now seen in designer kurta’s, he is a lawmaker now. Doing rounds in the parliament rubbing shoulders with an young brigade and its leader. The most disgusting thing in all is the fact that it is you and me who voted him in, what a shame. And we talk about corruption in politics, a joke.
Just across the fence, they had three or four who were as equally infamous as their Indian counterparts. Now these gentlemen want to be the senior statesmen – coaches, administrators and what not. The irony is that some already are. In this case I don’t blame them, their board is equally shameless. Their Champions Trophy team would say why.
In what was the undisputed “Numero Uno” cricket team in all forms till sometime ago, there were a couple of them. One was born with another who calls Calcutta his second home these days. And the other was and is one of the best players international cricket has ever seen (and would ever).
And there were people who refused to go to other countries to play cricket, the reason being a probe. This required the the influential people from both the countries intervened and at the end of the day circumvent or short-circuit law.
Today there are souls trying to rest in peace, lawmakers trying to have a peaceful sleep in a parliament in session, head coaches in national academies trying to make a quick buck or a good face on camera, there are also some who have just finished playing cricket on the snow just after washing their news channel make-up down the drain.
Did any one of them show any remorse ?
Did any one of them own up ?
Forget what they said, did we say they are bad role models? We voted for them, asked questions about discipline on live TV and even dreamed about being coached by them in the national academy.
So why do we make a huge hue and cry when a third, or rather a fourth world cricketer wants to comeback after a match fixing ban?
Because Maurice Odumbe is a Kenyan and they are only associate members?
I am not trying to justify what Maurice did, what he did is a crime and the world of cricket needs to get rid of that. But that “getting it rid” process needs to be a level playing ground, one yardstick for all.
If we think Maurice needs be confined to his home and he is a bad role model. Let us speak about the other models too.
Slam him down… He’s from an associate member nation
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