‘If your b*@&ds can’t join their two hands, then what can I do?’ This was the South African captain Hansie Cronje explaining to bookie Sanjeev Chawla why he couldn’t deliver on their match-fixing deal after a game in the infamous 2000 India-South Africa series. It was that ODI where Herschelle Gibbs was to score below 20 but ended up hitting much more. Hansie, to save face, was blaming the Indian fielders for dropping catches. He was implying that Gibbs had done his bit and had he been caught, the match would take the course the syndicate had decided. Neither knew Delhi Police were tapping their phones. More than two decades later, retired cop Pradeep Srivastava — who worked the Cronje case as a young DCP — repeats the line and chuckles at “b*”@#&_ds”. This was a few years back, when a group of Express reporters, working on Chawla’s profile after he was forced to return to India from London, had been invited by Srivastava to his home. It was early evening. The frame of the relaxed ex-cop, sitting in the living room that had some signs of a child’s recent birthday, was endearing. Bright lights, balloons and buntings weren’t the ideal backdrop for a chat about cricket’s ugly chapter. His words would get embedded in the mind. In the years to come, it would be a seed of doubt that would instantly germinate at the sight of a pro-fielder dropping a catch that even an amateur could hold blindfolded. This season, the IPL has presented that worrying sight way too often. Dropped catches are as old as the game, even the sharpest spill sitters. But when the BCCI secretary flags the presence of unauthorized persons in team hotels, franchise buses and even the dugout, the memories of the evening with Mr Srivastava are refreshed. ALSO READ | BCCI’s anti-corruption unit flags presence of unauthorised persons in IPL dugout “There are unauthorised persons travelling in the team bus. There are unauthorised persons in team hotels, and there are some unauthorised persons in the dugout area… Some people have been spotted in places where they are not supposed to be,” BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia told this newspaper. He added that norms have been in place since 2008 but “people are becoming casual” and there will be no leniency for violations.Story continues below this ad The IPL has reached the business end, the play-offs are round the corner. How long have these illegal trespassers been around? Why were they allowed and what were they up to? Such questions aren’t healthy for a reputed league, the IPL — world cricket’s biggest show and the crown jewel of Indian cricket. Cricket in general and IPL specifically is a sport of small margins, many uncertainties and countless possibilities. Here a genuine error can easily be confused for some grand dubious design. Exasperation, disbelief, instant derision, a smirk and a quick comment on the integrity of the game, and the players follow. More so when an official says that the house rules have not been followed. In these days of no-holds-barred batting and throwing caution to the wind, a thin line separates the sublime from the stupid and also the scandalous. One minute you could be the batsman with the high backlift, graceful swing and immaculate timing. The next moment, if you miss the ball, you could be a wildly swinging careless batsman prone to throwing the wicket. More so, when you know the league hasn’t been squeaky clean. Bowlers too have it tough. It’s a few millimetres that distinguish the perfect wide outside off yorker dot ball and a glaring wide. Missing this tight target more than once starts the whispers. Again, more so when you know that the gate-keepers have been lax and teams have been too casual in following the norm and guidelines.Story continues below this ad Every major cricket controversy that brought serious disrepute to the game has had the role of those who snuck into the forbidden zones. The 2013 spot-fixing IPL scandal had bookies sharing the hotel room with the players. This is from the police chargesheet. Back in the day, the teammates of those facing fixing charges spoke of them regularly in mixed company at odd hours. Most would look the other way or be cynical about the state of affairs. Some would even be in awe of their playboy image. The whip didn’t crack, till it was too late. And within a few years, it was once again an open house. Businessmen and women, agents and hangers-on were back in the hotel lobby. There were luxury cars waiting outside, ready to take to the temptations with possible booby traps. A few years back, the ICC made Zimbabwe’s Brendan Taylor’s hearing about his match-fixing case public. The story goes that Taylor would meet an Indian businessman, who would offer him the world. A place in the Afghanistan league and subsequently $15,000 for fixing games. A month later, the businessman funded Taylor’s three nights and four days trip to India. This time he wanted Taylor to do what they wanted in a T20 tournament. The Zimbabwean player said he had initially said no to the offer but what made him change his mind was a compromising video of him that the businessman had shot. He also mentions an evening of cocaine consumption. The rare BCCI acknowledgement of undeserving and unaccredited persons strolling around the dugout is serious. Hansie’s ‘If your bastards can’t join their two hands, then what can I do?’ is a loaded line. It is an indictment of those greasy palms but not fair on those with genuine butter fingers. Such doubts aren’t good for the IPL — it is optics and perception that decide the reputation and legacy of an event.
Who let them in? The mystery around the strangers who sneaked into IPL’s dugout
