India should legalise betting to stop corruption: Boycott

May 24, 2013

Geoffrey_BoycottLondon, May 24: India should legalise betting to stamp out corruption in cricket, says former England captain Geoffrey Boycott who feels the menace of fixing, which has currently dented the IPL's reputation, emerges more frequently in the Asian countries.

"The way to stop it altogether, except for the odd one -- but we're getting too many at the minute -- is this business of making betting legal in India. It's illegal, so people do it," Boycott told 'ESPN Cricinfo'.

"When beer was illegal in America during prohibition, you had all this illegal drinking and all these mafia-type people and so forth involved. And so you'll get the worst type of society involved in betting, from the bookies and that sort of people, when you have something that people want to do but it's illegal," he explained.

But Boycott said it would take a lot out of the Indian government to decriminalise betting given that it doesn't "like change".

"Many people have suggested to the Indian government that making betting legal at cricket, like it's legal in horse-racing and so on, would stamp most of it [corruption] out," he said.

"But you know what it's like. Trying to explain to the Indian government, they think you are telling them something, they don't like it and they don't like to change," he added.

Indian cricket has been left shaken to the core by the ongoing IPL spot-fixing scandal, which has led to the arrest of three cricketers, including India Test pacer S Sreesanth, and several bookies with underworld connections.

The former batsman and noted commentator felt that the problem seems to creep up more frequently in the Asian region than any other part of the cricketing landscape.

"We don't seem to get it in other countries. It seems to be around in Asia. And that's not me being against Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis. You know me, I love that part of the world. They are very kind and good to me, particularly the Indian and Pakistani people, where I've been a lot," Boycott said.

"But I'm telling you the truth, it seems to surface in Asia. And once you've got all this money floating around in a huge game with millions and millions involved, you're going to get problems. It's going to resurface again," he added.

The Englishman, however, conceded that it would be impossible to completely root out corruption from the game.

"...Irrespective of how many safeguards or preventive measures you introduce, human nature being what it is, there'll always be the off person that tries to beat the system, tries to do something illegal, that's always going to happen. It's not just about cricket. In anything, it's always going to happen," he insisted.

"But it is coming up too often and it's still there. And whether we like it or not, it comes up with Asian players. It came up with the Pakistani lad playing for Essex (Danish Kaneria), didn't it, the legspinner? So it always concerns me and should concern everybody...," he added.

Boycott said with the police unearthing the latest scandal, it is clear that the anti-corruption units of both the ICC and the individual Boards have been largely ineffective.

"...it wasn't the ICC or the BCCI's anti-corruption wing that found out what was happening. All this money is being spent by cricket and they never come up with anything. It's the Indian police that find it," he pointed out.

Boycott said one reason for corruption in the game is the huge gap in the earnings of top players and the relatively junior pros.

"I think when you have a situation like the IPL, where four players in a team - I know sometimes they have six or seven (such) in a squad - have huge, huge money and then you're talking about four, five or six of the local Indian players who are not getting paid very much, you have a situation that's waiting to explode," he said.

"...when they don't get paid much money, it's very tempting. You see people getting a million dollars, people like Kevin Pietersen get paid USD 2 million if they play the entire series, and (if these others) are getting peanuts, then they are open to the bookies," he stressed.

Boycott, however, was of the opinion that IPL would survive the crisis if scandals like the ongoing one are not repeated in future.

"When anything like that happens, it does hurt it a bit. But I don't think people are stupid enough to say, 'Hey, this is all the IPL.' If somebody robs a bank in Yorkshire, it doesn't mean Yorkshiremen are corrupt, does it? It's the same here," he said.

"It doesn't mean because you've caught three or four people doing this stuff... there might be two or three more who might come out of the woodwork when we get into it, but it doesn't mean everybody in the IPL are (corrupt). You can't taint everybody because of the few. You can't do that.

"If it keeps on happening - that's the point - that people are caught for corruption in the IPL, then it will hurt it," he added.

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Agencies
January 26,2020

Chennai, Jan 26: Former India cricketer Kapil Dev on Saturday said that it will be a big loss for the Indian side when MS Dhoni decides to hang up his boots.

"I think he has served the country so well and nobody has done it like him. Everyone has to retire sooner or later. He is not playing matches currently. So I don't know when he will come out one day and say -- I have had enough. I think it will be our loss because he is such a fabulous cricketer," Dev told reporters here.

In the recently released BCCI contracts list, Dhoni did not find a place for himself. The former World Cup winning captain Dev said that it is unfortunate that Dhoni was not included in the contract list.

"I feel sorry that they have not included him. 

Tendulkar, Gavaskar had to witness the same. It's not my job and I am not there to give the contract to anyone. It is the job of the cricket board. So, I don't know. You can ask this question to the cricket board. They will be able to answer this question," Dev said.

The 38-year-old Dhoni is currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni had to face criticism for his slow batting approach during India's matches in the tournament. 

Especially in the games against England and New Zealand (semi-final), he had to bear the brunt of netizens, who deemed him as the reason for the Men in Blue's loss.

BCCI released the list of central contract list of players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020.

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News Network
April 7,2020

Bengaluru, April 7: India batsman Robin Uthappa has said that he reckons he still has a World Cup left in him, despite being out of the team for than four years.

Uthappa had last played a match for the Men in Blue in 2015 on the tour of Zimbabwe.

"Right now I want to be competitive. I still have that fire burning in me, I really want to compete and do well. I honestly believe I have a World Cup left in me, so I'm pursuing that, especially the shortest format. 

The blessings of lady luck or god or whatever you call it, plays a massive factor," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Uthappa as saying.

"Especially in India, it becomes so much more evident. I don't think it is as evident when you're playing cricket outside of India. But in the subcontinent and India especially, with the amount of talent that we do have in our country, all of those aspects become evident," he added.

The 34-year-old Uthappa has played 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is for India and he was also a part of the T20 World Cup-winning squad in 2007.

Uthappa has scored 934 runs in ODIs at an average of 25.94, while in T20Is his numbers are 249 runs at an average of 24.90.

"You can never write yourself off. You would be unfair to yourself if you write yourself off.

Especially if you believe you have the ability and you know that there is an outside chance. So I still believe in that outside chance," Uthappa said.

"I still believe that things can go my way and I probably can be a part of a World Cup-winning team and play an integral role in that as well.

Those dreams are still alive and I think I'll keep playing cricket till that is alive," he added.

Uthappa had enjoyed great success with IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders. He went on to become their leading run-scorer in the 2014 edition.

However, he was released by the side after a below-par 2019 season, and last November he was picked up by the Rajasthan Royals for the 2020 edition.

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News Network
January 19,2020

Rome, Jan 19: India's star wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Ravi Kumar Dahiya kicked off the Olympic year in style, winning a gold medal each in their respective weight categories at the Rome Ranking Series here.

The 25-year-old Bajrang staged a remarkable comeback to secure a 4-3 win against USA's Jordan Michael Oliver in the summit showdown of the 65kg freestyle category.

Ravi, who competed in the 61kg category instead of his regular 57kg, also bagged gold after getting the better of Kazakhstan's Nurbolat Abdualiyev 12-2 in his final bout late on Saturday night.

The 23-year-old from Sonepat had made the final round after securing impressive wins over Moldova's Alexaandru Chirtoaca and Kazakhstan's Nurislam Sanayev.

Up against one of India's biggest medal prospects in the Tokyo Olympics, Oliver conceded that it was not his night against Bajrang.

The American lauded the competitive spirit of Bajrang.

"Wasn't my night… but I got a lot of work to do to be where I want to be! Hats off to @BajrangPunia dude is heck of a competitor! Until next time my friend," the American tweeted.

Bajrang had to sweat it out in the first round against Zain Allen Retherford of the USA before prevailing 5-4.

In the quarterfinal, the ace Indian wrestler went past another American Joseph Christopher Mc Kenna 4-2, before getting the better of Vasyl Shuptar of Ukraine 6-4 in the semi-finals.

However, it was curtains for Jitender in the 74kg and world championship silver medallist Deepak Punia in the 86kg category.

Jitender won his first bout against Denys Pavlov of Ukraine 10-1 before going down in the quarterfinals against Turkey's Soner Demirtas 4-0.

Jitender got a chance to fight in the repechage after Demirtas entered the final, but the Indian wasted the opportunity, losing 2-9 to Daniyar Kaisanov of Kazakhstan.

In the 86kg category, Deepak crashed out in the opening round, losing 1-11 to Ethan Adrian Ramos of Puerto Rico.

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