These are testing times for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). I don’t know If it’s the team’s bad fortune, that’s rubbing off or just pure plain karma. The string pullers are certainly being pulled this time around.
The Fair trade regulator Competition Commission has charged the Cricket governing body with a whooping penalty of Rs. 52.24 crore ( US$ 9.792 M) for indulging in market abuse and anti-competitive practices. For more details click here. All this, before the sixth edition of the much anticipated Pepsi IPL6 starting in April 2013.
Be it the recent account of 100 crore (US$ 18.709M) penalty levied on the owners of Rajasthan Royals by Enforcement Directorate (ED) or the Indian captain MS Dhoni being made the Vice President of India Cements, a company under the chairmanship of the BCCI President, N. Srinivasan. The recent spate of checkered accounts within the BCCI, provides good indication of the trouble brewing within its quarters.
I feel bad for the 12 million dollar babies recently adopted or selected, in the recently held IPL auction . They must be a worried lot right now.
Not to forget, the recent allegations of doping and betting in Cricket Australia, thus shedding poor light on the sport all across.
Question marks like these, clearly raises eyebrows of the general public paying their hard earned money, watching these games in stadiums. If transparency is diluted in matters of sports regulations and sport controls, it only makes the Cricket fan lose confidence, thus making the game lose its credibility.
Transparency International, a non-profit which monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development, has released a blue print defining boundaries of cricket and cricket administration in January 2012.
It’s time the International Cricket council which in Oct 2012 had promised to fight the war against corruption takes stringent measures to eradicate this problem.
Coz, It won’t take long, for a thriving sport to lose its sheen . Not because of individuals playing the sport, but because of the people pulling its strings, sitting in an office, somewhere else.
