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The Dhaka Connection

PART I: Why did honest Hansie turn crooked Cronje?

Prem Panicker

Meanwhile, there are also a few peripheral issues that merit consideration. Here's a quick checklist:

Again, is it just me, or do you guys, too, feel a touch of suspicion about this whole Bangaldesh love-affair of Dalmiya's?

Check out the table below (and keep in mind that Jagmohan Dalmiya took over as ICC chairman on 16-6-1997):

Venue	Mts	Dates	Tournament
Toronto, Canada	6	Sept., 1997	Sahara Cup
Nairobi	8	Sept-Oct., 1997	Kenya Centenary Cup
Dhaka	6	January, 1998	Independence Cup
Toronto, Canada	5	Sept., 1998	Sahara Cup
Dhaka	8	October, 1998	ICC knockout
Dhaka	1	March, 1999	Ban v Pak
Dhaka	7	March, 1999	Meril Cup
Singapore	4	September, 1999	Coca Cola Challenge
Toronto, Canada	6	September, 1999	DMC and DMC Trophy
Nairobi	7	October, 1999	LG Cup
Dhaka	2	October, 1999	Biman Cup

Summary of Series/tournaments played

Venue	Series/tournaments played
Bangladesh	5 (add to this the Asian Test Championship final in March, 1999)
Canada	4
Kenya	2
Singapore	1

Summary of ODI matches played

Venue	ODI matches played
Bangladesh	24 (add to this the Asian Test Championship final in March, 1999)
Canada	17
Kenya	15
Singapore	4

Point one: In October-November 1988, an Asia Cup was held in Bangladesh. For the next nine years, nothing. Then Dalmiya, in 1997, becomes ICC chairman and as such, the man who decides where these 'globalisation' games are held. And within the next four years, we have 5 separate tournaments, 24 games, played at the venue (not forgetting that on May 27, tournament number 6, namely the next edition of the Asia Cup, will be played at the same venue, so that is 7 more games).

I can understand the ICC chairman's point that cricket needs to be globalised. The more people playing -- and watching -- the more powerful the game, and indirectly, the more the money that pours into it. But pray tell, how does playing a tournament in Bangaldesh popularise the game around the world?

Point two: The next highest number of tournaments and games, if you look at venues outside the nine cricket-playing nations (and Sharjah, which has been a 'neutral' venue for over a decade now) is Toronto, Canada. So hey, maybe we are wronging Dalmiya after all -- see, cricket is being played in other venues as well, to the tune of four tournaments, 17 games, in Toronto.

But think again -- the Toronto tournament, which till the last edition thereof was known as the Sahara Cup, began in 1996, a year before Dalmiya took over as ICC chairman. And forms part of a contract entered into by the boards of India and Pakistan, not a part of Dalmiya's global vision.

So what lies behind Dalmiya's (who a reader in his email, with rare wit, nicknamed 'Dollarmiya') fascination with Bangladesh. It is a question that deserves an answer -- will the ICC chairman deign to give one? And will the boards of the member nations tell us why they are only too happy to go along, and pack their players off to Dhaka at the drop of an invitation?

BCCI president A C Muthaiah sounds as tough as Schwarzenneger, these days.

Having suddenly woken up from the deep dream of peace into which he, like Abou Ben Adhem in the poem, had slipped on being conferred the top job in Indian cricket, he has embarked on whirlwind activity.

First, he has summoned Manoj Prabhakar and told him to stop making unsubstantiated allegations.

Do note, he hasn't felt the need to announce a probe into those allegations. What has happened is merely that he has asked Manoj to shut the hell up.

He has also told Manoj Prabhakar -- and the media -- that the board is "seriously contemplating" asking the CBI to probe the entire issue of match-fixing.

Wherefore this "serious contemplation"? How much more does it take, what more do we want, before the probe is actually instituted? I mean, rumours of Indian players being involved have been too prevalent, for too long, to be ignored. More to the point, the police have openly claimed that the names of two Indian players have been mentioned in the Cronje tapes. There is, prima facie, a case to be mind for a thorough investigation. So can we please stop "serious contemplation" and other forms of time-wasting, and hand the matter over to the police, like now? Please?

The one thing Muthaiah said, which deserves unstinted applause, is his statement that any Indian player found guilty will be banned for life (By the way, could we also have a word on any officials found guilty, please? Because within the cricket fraternity, it is being openly said that several officials of varyingly high profiles are equally involved, and further, that this explains the official inaction thus far). Just the ticket -- a ban for life, plus other punitive action including crippling fines, is what will serve as an effective deterrent to others tempted to succumb to the lure of the quick buck.

But before you can punish anyone, you need to fix the guilt where it belongs. For which you need a probe. And as Dalmiya himself said, the police (CBI, whatever) are more competent than the ICC. So without further waffling, isn't it time an open, honest probe independent of both the BCCI and the ICC was announced?

And in passing, this: Various South African players have been asked, by various sections of the media, about the Cronje affair. Gary Kirsten first reacted with shock and disbelief. And after Cronje's mea culpa, spoke of the feeling of betrayal, and his own determination to help wipe out the stigma on his nation and on the game, by dint of personal performance (a promise he lived up to in the first ODI of the ongoing series, when he spearheaded South Africa's win over the hitherto unstoppable Australians, so how about a round of applause for him?)

Shaun Pollock reacted similarly. First with disbelief, then with a quiet determination.

And then there was Lance Klusener. Asked about the tape transcript, Klusener's first reaction was, 'Who are the other players involved?' Gibbs, Strydom, Boje and Williams, he was told. To which, pat came the response from the all-rounder: 'No comment'.

Hmmm.....

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Prem Panicker