New Book Delves Into The Underbelly of Cricket
A new book by journalist Shantanu Guha Ray - 'Fixed: Cash and Corruption in Cricket' - examines the allegations of corruption against players, cricket administrators and bookies alike. He also interviews middlemen and agents who lure players into fixing net.
A new book delves into underbelly of cricket, analysing spot-fixing and nexus of bookies and punters with those in the corridors of power, mysterious deaths and issues threatening the gentleman's game. (Mukul Mudgal Calls For Legalising Betting in Cricket)
'Fixed: Cash and Corruption in Cricket' (HarperCollins) by journalist Shantanu Guha Ray examines the allegations of corruption against players, cricket administrators and bookies alike. (BCCI Bans Umpire Asad Rauf For Five Years in IPL Spot-Fixing Case)
The author interviews people who linger in the shadows of players' dressing rooms - the middle men, agents, friends of Indian Premier League franchise owners - placing bets on games and enticing cricketers to reveal inside information for money, sex or, worse, fear for their lives. (IPL Spot-Fixing, Top-10 Developments: S Sreesanth, All Other Accused Acquitted)
Also under the spotlight are the roles of police and government, who have, at best, made patchy efforts to stem the rot.
The author says despite cricket being almost next to religion in India, the issue of corruption in cricket very surprisingly was hardly ever debated in Parliament.
"Why wouldn't the members of the Upper House and Lower House debate an issue as serious as spot-fixing and illegal betting? I remembered how cops in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur and Delhi had told me that their biggest concern was that in recent years, illegal betting syndicates had developed powerful connections in the right corridors," he writes.
According to him, this betting industry is an extremely secretive and complex network that works at various levels.
"For example, Indian bookies are known for picking up exotic locations to hoodwink the cops. Some take satellite phones and work out of villages, others bribe cops and work right next to the stadium, some set up shop in the top floors of fancy five-star hotels where there's minimal movement of guests.
"In two recent cases in Mumbai, bookies camouflaged themselves as members of an investor forum discussing the ills of real estate business in the city," he writes.