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The Chandrachud Report

f. R Mohan, The Hindu

I consider it impossible that an international match can be fixed As many as 11 players are involved in the play and what is more important the national prestige is at stake I have heard many market rumours about match fixing . But during my 18 years as a cricket correspondent with the Hindu I do not know a single instance when I heard before the match or during the match that some particular player or players are going to play badly. These rumours, I found , are unfounded and they are circulated after the match is over . A team which loses is accused to having fixed the match to lose. I have no personal knowledge but, it is widely believed that a large amount of betting takes place on cricket in India. In some other countries, like England and Australia, betting is legalised. Cricket is an unpredictable game because fluctuations in the form of a player or a team are very common. That is why unusual results are produced in any cricket match between any two countries. Any cricket match can produced a shocking result. When a shocking result is produced, rumours begin to float.

The match with Pakistan in the Singer cup in 1994 at Colombo, about which Manoj Prabhakar has spoken to Outlook, never took place. In fact, it was raining for a quite few days before the match was due to be played. One day cricket is even more unpredictable than a test match. The nature of the game is such that any side may win or lose. No one ever thought that Kenya would beat West Indies in the World Cup Championship whch was held in 1996.

Our match with West Indies in which we had to score only 120 runs to win was lost because the wicket was difficult and suited the West Indies fast bowlers. I have gone about five times out of India with the Indian touring team from 1979 to 1997. Not once did I suspect that any match was fixed or that any player had placed a bet for losing the match.

g. Mr. S K Shyam, press correspondent, Reuters, and freelance journalist

I have been writing in various newspapers for the last 30 years. I was a Sports Editor for nearly 26 years for three different newspapers.

I have covered 126 test matches to which India was a party and I have also covered about 100 one day matches.

I have travelled a lot for viewing and commenting on cricket. Some times, the future of a match changes so suddenly that it creates doubts in the minds of people about the bona fides of the players. People jump to the conclusion that the match is lost because the players are got at. But sports critics like us have to look into these problems and try to analyse the likely causes of the result. After a most careful consideration. I have come to the conclusion that it is not only difficult but impossible to fix a match through the medium of one or two players. In one day cricket, even one or two failures of key batsmen do not matter. The others can make up for it, which has happened very often. For fixing a match, one will have to get at a large bunch of players which is extremely difficult to do. Players are known to have played badly, deliberately, on a few occasions. But, that is because of internal rivalries, especially some animous against the captain.

I have come across people who boast of their friendship with players. They exploit that friendship by spreading rumors like that they placed a certain bet on behalf of that player. It is very difficult to separate the facts from fiction. No player would risk his whole career by beig directly involved in an illegal activity like betting on cricket. My own experience is that the key players who have worked so hard to get into the team and to retain their form, will not sell themselves because they also consider it is great honour to represent their country . I am of the opinion that in the interest of this great game of cricket, people cant be allowed to pass off or masquerade as journalists. Those people never cover any match in detail but manage to go on a tour abroad to cover a series. Thereby they get privileges of a journalist like sitting in the Press box, where all telecommunictions are very easily available. I have seen that the ony business of these people is to receive and make telephone calls. At the end of the day, they hardly write a line on the cricket of the day. The entry to the journalists should be subjectd to close secrutiny so that ony genuine and established journalists will have access to the press room, .That will effectively reduce rumors about the journalists being involved in betting.

h. Pradeep Vijaykar, assistant editor, Times of India, Bombay

I have gone twice to Sharjah and recently to Toronto and Pakistan when the Indian cricket team was touring. I do not rule out the possibility of fixing an international cricket match. That can be done by getting at say, two key players. If the others play well, the fixing may fail. But, where the fixing has been attempted 50% of the times one may succeed in fixing the match. Punters do not always win the bet. They take their chance and bookies seldom lose because they hedge their bets. Therefore, a failed attempt in fixing a match does not hit the bookies. I have watched the Indian team closely for the last 20 years and I have seen today's players growing from their early beginings. I do not think that they would take money for losing a match. There may be a stray case here or there by way of an aberration. There are temptations in all walks of life and, some times, some players find it difficult to resist it. The test match which Pakistan lost againt Zimbabwe in about 1993 has all the trappings of a fixed match. In some foreign countries where betting goes on lawfully on a large scale on cricket, winners of bets are not even paid their moneys. The bookies just do not part with the money . Because of the betting rumors, it has bcome difficult to cover a match because if any side loses, the, the general public suspects match fixing. It is very hard to swallow that our players will take a bribe or bet to lose a match. Cricket cannot be compared to horse racing where mafias rule the roost. In places like Sharjah where money power plays a large part, there can even be presuure on Umpires in fixing a match. Some times, even Umpires seem to give decisions which shock the spectators and the commentators alike.

i. Pradeep Magazine, Sports Editor, Pioneer

I joined the Pioneer in Feburary this year. Before that, I was working as Special Correspondent of Indian Express, Delhi, for about 15 years.

I have gone on all major cricket tours abroad. In the last couple of years, there is tremendous amount of talk in the Press Box and outside about a large amount of betting. I have myself seen people sitting in the Press Box and talking on mobile phones to outsiders on the state of the wicket and the likely result of the match. These phone calls used to come and go every few hours to update the information. This and other news like a bookie being thrown out from the Press Room in Sharjah led to further rumours that there is communication between players and the bookies. The news which appeared in the newspaper about the Sharjah incident was in 1993-94.

In 1983, when Kapil Dev was the captain of the Indian team, I had written an article in the Indian Express dated 17th December, 1983, saying that Kapil Dev had said to me that the Indian team was interested more in making money than in playing the game. My article led to some controversy. But the important point is that Kapil Dev had not said anything about fixing a match or about betting. He was saying something about players who were interested in gifts more than in playing the game. Kapil Dev later on contradicted even that statements after few days.

I have also written an article dated 19th April,1997 at George Town - West Indies, when India played the last test match against West Indies, saying that I was personally offered a sum of Rs. 40 lakhs by a bookie for helping him to approach our players so that we could fix them. When I mentioned this to Sachin Tendulkar, he got furious and said that he thought it beneath his dignity even to talk about such a thing. I have mentioned this also in my article dated 19th April. I have stated in the said article that the person who offered me the money used to phone from Delhi while I was in George Town, when I conveyed him what the conditions about the weather and wicket were. He fixed the fees of my advice at Rs 15,000 per match. He did send Rs. 15,000 to my house when my wife told him that all this was illegal. Hearing that, he fled from my house and I did not hear anything about him since then. I have mentioned all these in my article of 19th April,1997. This episode shows that atleast the bookies believe that it is possible to fix a match through proper contacts. I will not be surprised if I come to know that some matches with India are fixed. I however, have no evidence to show that any match has been fixed. Stories about match fixing are believed in some countries. For example, Salim Malik as per newspaper reports in Pakinstan, was accused by the team manager in Toronto for being in touch with the bookies and for sabotaging Pakistan's chances.

j. H Natrajan, Sports Editor, Indian Express

I have been working in the Indian Express for the last 17 years. There can be no smoke without fire. There should be some truth in the rumor about the match fixing and betting. But I have no evidence with me on either of these questions. I cannot say that any particular match was fixed or that, any particular player in the Indian team bets. What I can say is that in 1994-95, when I was in Sri Lanka at the time of Singer Cup Series, a Pakistani photographer with whom I was sharing a room said to me that lots of allegations and counter allegation are being made in the Pakistani dressing room about the particular match of Australia Vs Pakistan. Salim Malik was the captain of the Pakistan team. I had heard a few things about our players but it would be very unfair on my part to mention their names because I have no evidence. Some players have made allegations against other players but even then I thought that our players against whom allegations were so made, had an unimpeachable character. It is surprising that such allegations were made by different players at different times., evidently unrelated to each other . But, I still do not believe those allegations. For fixing a match, it is quite enough to get any two key bowlers and batsman. Managing a run-out is not very difficult. But, it is very difficult to say without any concrete evidence that Indian matches are fixed or particular match was fixed. When strange things happen on the field, suspicion is naturally aroused. Coupled with established fact of large betting, such incidents then tend to give credence to match fixing allegations. The umpire can also be a key figure in match fixing, though it is not a known way of doing it. I do not know whether that is prevalent. But I can say that an Indian international umpire told me that he was offered money to give certain decisions. But all these allegations depend on the oral word and there is no concrete evidence. In the absence of such evidence it would be unfair for me to make any positive statements either on the question of match fixing or the involvement of our players in betting. But there is no question that a large amount of betting takes place in cricket matches.

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