Cricket in a fix

In Fixed!, journalist Shantanu Guha Ray examines the allegations of corruption levelled against players, cricket administrators and bookies in the last two decades

FIXED! CASH AND CORRUPTION IN CRICKET
Shantanu Guha Ray
Harper Sport
208 pages; Rs 299

Journalist Shantanu Guha Ray's second book, Fixed! Cash and Corruption in Cricket, comes at a time when Pakistani pacer Mohammad Amir - disgraced by the biggest sporting scandal in the country's history - is slowly finding his feet in international cricket again, slaying batsmen with pace and guile not seen since Wasim Akram swung his way into the sunset.

Mr Ray's book has a whole chapter dedicated to Amir and his two teammates' - skipper Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif - acrimonious fall from grace during the mystifying Oval Test of 2007 against England. Amir's resuscitation is a glorious tale of personal despair and triumph; the coming back of a young man who went astray in search for what Ramiz Raja described as "petty cash". But it also highlights the abhorrent underbelly of a sport that is populated by devious bookies and middlemen, and obscene amounts of cash.

In Fixed!, Mr Ray examines the allegations of corruption levelled against players, cricket administrators and bookies in the last two decades; allegations that have so often threatened to fray the very fabric that makes this sport so great. In the opening chapter of the book, titled "Inside the World of Bookies", Mr Ray writes about how the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal cast a shadow on cricket's richest property, taking down with it a slew of lofty personalities who so indiscriminately wielded power in the corridors of Indian cricket, and put into question the probity of several others.

Along the way, Mr Ray interviews the numerous people who were involved in the arrests of S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila - the three main accused in the case - putting forth an insightful, if simplistic, account of the scandal that led to the premature career demise of one of India's brightest fast bowling prospects. Mr Ray's description of the arrest of Tinku Mandi, a flamboyant punter who enjoyed the status of a mini-celebrity in certain pockets of Delhi, makes for compelling reading.

In other parts of the book, Mr Ray talks about the dubious deaths of Bob Woolmer and Hansie Cronje, two pillars of South African cricket who helped the Proteas develop into an ominous cricketing juggernaut. Woolmer, Pakistan's coach, was mysteriously found dead in his hotel room on the night of his side's catastrophic exit from the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. The chapter on Woolmer is fascinating and well-researched, but Mr Ray fails to go beyond the myriad conspiracy theories that have surfaced all these years. In some ways, he reinforces what we've known all along.

The Cronje saga offers much more of the same. Mr Ray touches upon the former South African captain's immense contribution to the sport and how he is still revered as a god-like figure back home, but the perplexity of his death is examined in scant detail. Comments from Mark Boucher and Andrew Hudson, Cronje's two former teammates, offer a fleeting glimpse into the turmoil to which South African cricket was subject at the turn of the millennium, the period during which Cronje first admitted to accepting cash for throwing matches. Four pages are dedicated to the infamous South Africa-England Test match played at Centurion Park in 2000, a game in which Cronje allowed the tourists to win by declaring early in the first innings and forfeiting the second one altogether.

With simple and light prose, Mr Ray manages to keep the reader engaged throughout, backing strong claims with snippets of information and anecdotes. His unremitting use of the word "plush" though, is slightly cringe-worthy; one that he uses to describe every hotel on the planet.

In Fixed!, Mr Ray has reserved his best for the two chapters on Neo Sports and Lalit Modi, the enfant terrible of Indian cricket. He delves into how the Nimbus Communications-led Neo Sports ran into trouble with N Srinivasan and the Board of Control for Cricket in India, eventually getting its contract for the broadcast of India's home matches rescinded.

In the chapter "Modi, The Carpet Bomber", Mr Ray brings to life the ingenious, spunky persona of the former IPL chief beautifully. He writes about Mr Modi's tumultuous relations with the bosses of some of India's biggest newspapers, and how he was once charged with drug trafficking, kidnapping and assault after a busted cocaine deal while studying at Duke University.

Fixed! is a readable account of the problems that afflict modern-day cricket. With pieces of incisive analysis, Mr Ray raises pertinent questions: why is the International Cricket Council still abysmally struggling to obliterate corruption? Why are thuggish bookies still being allowed to run amok? Legalising betting, a move that the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Committee recommended earlier this year, could offer a solution. Finding such answers will take time, but for now, Mr Ray has made his point.