Sports

How About A King Commission In India?

South Africans resent that suspect players from the subcontinent seem to get away

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How About A King Commission In India?
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As a stunned South Africa reels in disbelief at the sensational revelations being made before the King Commission, many in the cricket-mad country feel match-fixing allegations against Indian cricketers too need to be brought under the lens.

Though each damning testimony by current and ex-Proteas players imbeds nails deeper into their erstwhile captain's coffin, South Africans across the racial spectrum are still grappling to come to terms with the fall of their cricketing icon. But with the likelihood of a life ban on Cronje and other guilty players intensifying with each passing day at the King Commission deliberations, enraged South African fans are questioning why it is only South African cricket that is being subjected to a purge.

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Almost in chorus, there are deafening cries for an icc-sanctioned commission of inquiry into the affairs of all Test-playing nations, particularly India. The latter are being perceived as exceptional muckrakers when it came to the match-fixing scandal involving Cronje but masterful at covering up similar speculation involving their own former and present stars. "The Indian police seem to have stumbled upon recordings between Cronje and the bookmakers with whom he was dealing. It is amazing that in all the hours of taped conversations that they have accumulated, not a single one relates to any player from any other country, particularly their own local players," snorts Shakita Persad, a 27-year-old avid South African cricket fan. "Revelations before the King Commission point strongly to an international, Mafia-style syndicate controlling match-fixing. Hansie alone couldn't have been on the take," she stresses, adding that it was "too coincidental" that the taped conversations only surfaced after South Africa had inflicted India's first defeat in a Test series on home soil for over a decade. She wants India to lead by example and ensure that an international investigation is promptly launched.

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In his testimony to the commission, Cronje disclosed that former Indian skipper Azharuddin had introduced him to a bookmaker, known as "MK", during the 1996 India tour and that he'd been offered $30,000 to lose the final Test against India. South Africa did lose. "This clearly illustrates that Indian players also had dealings with bookmakers and the chances are high their hands are not clean when it comes to this whole match-fixing saga," says a fan. "It wasn't difficult for the Indian authorities to unearth evidence against South African players. Why are they dragging their feet when it comes to their own players, especially when former greats such as Manoj Prabhakar have already intimated that Indian cricket is not above suspicion?" wonders Persad.

Such vilification of Indian cricket for its perceived reluctance to investigate its own players is amplified by many South Africans and a group of white supporters at a beachfront bar in Durban even alluded to the possibility that Cronje could have fallen under the spell of "Indian muti (medicine) administered by Indian bookmakers" that precipitated his fall from grace.

Echoing calls for a worldwide inquiry into the dubious off-the-pitch activities of cricketers from all nations, sports officer at Durban's Reservoir Hills Secondary School, Keshav Panday, reckons this would "clean up the gentlemen's game globally". Panday says Indian cricket should be in the forefront of such investigations - but not as a reprisal for exposing the bribery and corruption charges against Cronje. "It is to the long-term benefit of the game that cricket's can of worms was opened on the subcontinent but some of India's players themselves do not appear above board. Far too often, the team has capitulated from seemingly invincible positions to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory," comments Panday.

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In a clinical dissection of the problem at hand, he reasons that some of South Africa's first-choice players face the prospect of life bans. "If countries like India do not subject their teams to the cleansing process presently under way here, it would mean that their cheats would continue to grace the world arena while we ensure ours are identified and sidelined. It would also imply that our teams are weakened through the exclusion of guilty players while others are permitted to go their merry way," asserts Panday.

From a South African perspective, the mood is summed up in one word - equity. The problem of match-fixing, it is openly whispered, is not unique to South Africa and that country's cricketers, therefore, should not be the only ones to be hauled over the coals.

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The King Commission now has to ascertain if Cronje has made a full disclosure or if vital information has been stifled or distorted. After all, from the outset, Cronje has lied to all and sundry. If it is decided that Cronje has not suppressed information, there will be no further legal implications for him within his own country.

Rightly or wrongly, a growing band of South African cricket followers believe that the drive and energy of the Indian authorities that exposed Cronje and his cheating cronies in the Proteas' line-up now need to be invested into their own game to clean up their act - once and for all. Indeed, South Africans expect all icc affiliates to do likewise.

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At stake is the small matter of international cricket as we know it.

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