Just when everyone was looking forward to the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean with bated breath, came the news of West Indies cricketer Marlon Samuels being caught passing on information to a bookmaker regarding team strategy and some other essential details. The Nagpur police claimed to have taped conversations between Marlon Samuels and the alleged bookie Mukesh Kochar on the eve of the first one-day international between West Indies and India on January 21. Kochar is in fact alleged to have links with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and if these allegations are true, it will only prove that underworld is very much active in cricket betting. The news sent shock waves throughout the cricketing circles. After all, the game could not afford a repeat of Cronjegate that took place seven years earlier.
But once the news was out, it was essential to get into the minute details of the matter. It is no secret that betting in cricket is huge and with the World Cup coming up, the ICC will have to be super cautious to prevent any misdemeanours. It sounds bizarre that players who have been given the privilege of representing their country have to be guarded against such miscreants. But as the Hansie Cronje episode proved, the lure of money can be too tempting to refrain from at times. Why else would cricketing greats like Shane Warne, Mark Waugh, Mhd. Azharuddin and Hansie Cronje have got their hands dirty?
ICC exercises caution
ICC CEO Malcolm Speed believes that over $1 billion could be bet on individual World Cup matches this year. And so, in effort to prevent illegal betting, the ICC is sending its anti-corruption unit to the tournament in the West Indies.
Interestingly, the ICC's team will try and curb what it terms as micro-fixing. This activity involves betting on essential match information like batting and bowling orders, whether a skipper will bat or bowl first if he wins the toss and so on. The Samuels-Kochar conversation hence assumes all the more significance since it was exactly the kind of detail being passed on.
ICC will also impose strict penalties on those who are found breaching the governing body’s code of conduct. The penalties include life bans for trying to fix a match, under performing or asking another player to under perform. Additionally, betting on a World Cup match will include a 2-5 year ban and so will providing team information to bookies. The players will also be expected to inform the team officials in case they are contacted by any bookies. The failure to do so could result in a 1-5 year ban.
The Nagpur probe
Even as the ICC is trying to make sure that everything goes on smoothly in the Caribbean island, its anti-corruption unit is probing the allegations against Marlon Samuels in Nagpur.
According to an ICC spokesman Brian Murgatroyd, the unit will examine all possible angles and conduct a thorough investigation. Murgatroyd also told the press that no timeframe had been fixed by the ICC for completing the probe.
Meanwhile, The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) decided to back their player in the eye of the storm, Marlon Samuels, saying that they believe he is 'clean'. WICB, however, revealed that they too would carry an investigation into the matter and will not take any action against him before that.
Even Windies skipper Brian Lara pledged his support to young Samuels saying that with the World Cup coming up, Samuels needed to be given the opportunity to completely focus on his game.
Twist in Samuels match-fixing saga
But even as the Windies Board rallied behind Marlon Samuels, the mystery surrounding the whole saga got a new twist when it was learnt that the kit of the West Indies team hadn't reached Nagpur in time for the match and therefore captain Brian Lara was forced to field first. The disclosure is very relevant since Samuels was caught leaking the team’s fielding strategy to the bookie. According to the police, the bookies might have been aware of the delay and hence were sure that the visitors would be taking the fielding first.
Another disclosure by the Maharashtra police that opened a whole new can of worms was that the name of one 'Robin Singh' had cropped up during the conversation between Samuels and Kochar. Cricketer Robin Singh, who was born on Trinidad but went on to play for India with some distinction, however termed the reports that his name figured in the conversations as "false and baseless"
Robin also declared that the BCCI had cleared him of the charge and also given him permission to go ahead and talk to the media if he thought it was necessary. Singh felt, and rightly so, that the police and media should have been more responsible before making any revelations.
Samuels in squad
Amidst all the chaos, Marlon Samuels made it to the West Indies World Cup squad. But though his name figures in the final 15, Samuels still stands a chance of being banned at any stage if the International Cricket Council (ICC) finds any wrongdoing while investigating the scandal in Nagpur. If that happens, then the West Indies Cricket Board would have to ask the ICC's technical committee for a replacement player.
The home side will begin their World Cup with a game against Pakistan in Jamaica on 13 March and Samuels’ impressive performances mean he will very much be an integral part of West Indies’ World Cup campaign. Samuels, who is primarily a batsman, has also proved his skills as a bowler of late, performing a similar job to that of Chris Gayle (whose name has also been discussed but nothing concrete has come out of it yet). And so his loss might prove to be a big hindrance for the host nation. Lets hope that truth prevails in the end. And for the sake of world cricket that too many skeletons are not unearthed this time round. Cricket has had enough of it anyways. Phew!!!
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