It was 'fixed', says the buzz. But no proof

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2004 12:31:08 AM ]




NEW DELHI/LAHORE: The buzz has been growing over the past week. Just wait and see, we were told, it's going to be 2-2. It's been decided, said these people with the kind of tone that hinted at inside knowledge.





Pakistan lost the 4th ODI match in Lahore on Sunday. (AP photo)

When India lost their way in Peshawar and Pakistan snatched a 2-1 lead in the one-day series, we were told, don't worry, India's going to win the next match. When India came in from the cold to set up a decider in Lahore, it grew louder. Tongues wagged in Lahore, Karachi, Mumbai and Delhi: the goodwill series has been "fixed", it was said.



Obviously, there's not a shred of evidence. Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq flared up in an uncharacteristic manner at the post-match press conference. "Shut up. You may please leave the room," he told a reporter when asked if the match had been pre-decided.

The evidence is completely circumstantial. Silence descended darkly over the Gaddafi Stadium as Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami lost control over their line and length and Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Kaif grabbed the steering wheel. "The bowlers (suddenly) went flat and the field placements are a matter of debate," wrote Rashid Latif later.

Ihen, Imran Khan said on TV: "In the morning, the cabbies were saying everyone knows it's going to be 2-2."

But Dravid wasn't amused. "Will someone take this man out of the room," he pleaded as the questions got hotter. PCB chief Shahryar Khan was more circumspect. "It is sad people say such things," he told TNN in Lahore.
The ICC too was worried about the resurgence of bookies during this series. It even deployed four officials from its Anti-Corruption Unit to keep an eye on virtually every delivery. Late Monday evening, the council went on record to rule out the possibility of any match-fixing. Terming the allegations as baseless, it said, "no undesirable element" was allowed to go anywhere near the players. It's been a clean series, is the ICC's verdict.

Here, at The Times of India, we'd like to remind our readers of the old, old saying: Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties. Yes, we know that thousands of crores and huge doses of political equity are riding on the series, but Dravid is a truly great player and Kaif gives 110 per cent to the game and the country, and to suggest that they were lent a helping hand, would be doing them a great disservice.