With the IPL rocked by spot-fixing scandals, the chorus to cleanse cricket of its evils got stronger as former India skipper Anil Kumble has lent his support in urging the government to make match-fixing a criminal offence.
With Rahul Dravid too voicing his views freely, the erudite Kumble said the government should make it a cognisable offence to ensure it acts as a deterrent to the minority few who resort to cheating the game, the fans and everyone associated with it. “I think it should be (made a cognisable offence),” said Kumble while unveiling plans for the Karnataka State Cricket Associa-tion’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
“The central government is taking cognisance and they are enforcing strict laws. We should put certain measures and make life difficult for those who want to get involved. We can only put hurdles. We can’t put a surveillance all the time. We can only make it tough for people to get involved. If there are strict measures I think it will be a deterrent,” said the president of the KSCA.
With the game taking a hit in the views of the public, Kumble said cricket needed to be rid of the current demons enveloping it and that the players, administrators and fans needed to stay united in the cause..
“It is just not cricket. It is a reflection of society, cricket’s presence in India is high. But it deserves it and we need to be answerable...it cannot be addressed just by you and me. We should take cognizance and look at every aspect.”
Kumble then waded clear on the return of N. Srinivasan as the board chief. “The debate is not on one person. It is about getting cricket back on track. We need legal support, like I said if it is a criminal offence, match fixing needs to be treated that way. We can put a deterrent. It is not cricket alone. There is corruption everywhere. We need strict laws. There has been a lot of media frenzy about Srinivasan’s return. That isn’t the issue. The issue is about IPL fixing, betting and players’ involved in betting and address that.”

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Former Indian captain Rahul Dravid called for making match-fixing and spot-fixing a criminal offence since only a strong law can serve as a huge deterrent to potential fixers.
Dravid suggested a two-pronged approach to curb the menace of match-fixing and spot-fixing, saying making these illegal activities a criminal offence and educating cricketers at the junior level should be the first step.
“My personal belief is that education and counselling at a junior level is really important,” Dravid said in an interview to ESPNcricinfo, around three months after three of his Rajasthan Royals’ team-mates were arrested for alleged spot-fixing in the sixth edition of the IPL. “I think we’ve got to start early, we’ve got to start young but ... that part of it is already being done. I know that India has its own ACSU and even for Ranji Trophy teams this education is given,” he added.
The 40-year-old former cricketer said along with creating awareness, it was important to make stringent laws to create fear among potential fixers. “I don’t think only education can work, policing it and having the right laws and ensuring that people when they indulge in this kind of activities are actually punished. People must see that there are consequences to your actions. That will create fear for people,” Dravid said.
“For example, look back on the doping in cycling. Everyone knows it’s wrong and it’s frightening having read a little about it and the number of cyclists who were doing it. Surely everyone knows it’s wrong. So the only people cyclists were scared of was not the testers, not the (cycling) authority, they were scared of the police. You read all the articles, the only guys they were scared of was the police and going to jail. So the only way that people are going to get that fear is if they know the consequences to these actions and the law that will come into play. It has got to be a criminal offence,” he added.
S. Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila are the three Rajasthan Royals cricketers who were arrested on allegations of spot-fixing and also charge-sheeted under the strict Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). “In some ways it’s only the police who can do that, because they are the only ones who have the power. For example, the only way you can prove this is if you secretly tape people, if you follow people, and I don’t think any administrator [could]; we would never give that power to administrators of any sporting body in our country and we shouldn’t,” said Dravid, who scored 13,288 runs in 164 Tests.
Asked if administrators have done enough, Dravid said: “I think they’ve tried. We can easily go around blaming just administrators and players. But the fact that the incidents are still happening, it means that it (what is being done) is not enough and we need to admit the fact that we need to work in partnership with the law in this country to be able to actually crack down on this thing.”
“...I’d like to believe that there are good administrators as well, people who have done a lot for the game - the game has grown in this country and you can’t argue with that. Across the world as well, not only in India. But like good and bad cricketers, I guess there are good and bad administrators,” Dravid said.
Dravid said such scandals can diminish the reverence and respect that cricketers enjoy from their fans and if it happens it would be very a sad thing for the sport. “I think cricketers in India —right from the time I can remember, growing up — were always celebrities. But apart from being celebrities there’s a huge amount of respect associated with being cricketers and a certain amount of reverence and honour associated with representing India,” he said.
Dravid said he went through a plethora of emotions after the scandal broke out. “There is not really one emotion at a time like that. You go between anger, sadness, disappointment, you feel bad. I thought, not just from Rajasthan Royal’s point of view but from the whole IPL’s point of view, till that point it was a really good IPL. So for that to happen was really disappointing from everyone’s point of view,” he said. — Agencies