Need to be patient about the probe: Gavaskar

Shashank Manohar, the former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has called for “strong measures to eradicate betting/spot fixing/match fixing or any type of corruption which would mar the purity of the game”. Manohar, who headed the BCCI from 2008 to 2011, emphasised that winning back cricket fans’ trust should be paramount for the Board.

“It is the duty of the Board to see that the public perception is that the game is clean. Otherwise people would lose interest in the game,” said Manohar in an email to CNN-IBN on Sunday (May 26), calling for an investigative agency to look into all 76 matches of the Pepsi IPL.
“The Board should also provide them (the investigative agency) with a raw feed of the games as also the CCTV coverage recorded at every venue and after the investigation, apart from the criminal action, the Board should take strictest possible action against the persons involved, without showing any leniency,” he added.
Manohar also advocated approaching the government for aid in investigating criminal actions in all BCCI events as well as monitoring players’ phone calls, requiring player agents to be accredited, and banning post-match parties in the IPL. “The Board has to deal with this menace with an iron fist,” he reiterated.
On Sunday, N Srinivasan, the BCCI president, proposed a three-member panel – two of them from the BCCI Technical Committee, along with an independent third person – to analyse the “irregularities” during the sixth edition of the IPL.
Asked whether the probe would be conducted impartially, Sunil Gavaskar, the former India captain, told NDTV that it was unfair to question the credibility of the panel before deliberations and emphasised that patience was the need of the hour. “I know we’re in the age of Twenty20 where we want everything instant and done in two-three hours. In a situation like this, I think it might be prudent for all of us to be a little patient,” said Gavaskar. “Let’s not jump to conclusions.”
Gavaskar noted it was unfortunate that high-profile cases such as this would invariably involve a trial by the media, influencing public opinion. He also added that it would be unfair to cast doubts on the composition of the panel, even if two members were from the BCCI. “It’s not fair of us to be doubting their integrity because they’re probing an internal BCCI matter,” he reasoned. “Even if you have five people outside the cricket board, people are still going to doubt it.”
Gavaskar refused to be drawn into debate about the role of M Gurunath, saying it was an issue that needs to be determined by the panel. “In the case of Rajasthan Royals, there were three players, actually contracted players, who were arrested and have been under a cloud. On the other hand, as far as Meiyappan is concerned, India Cements have said they are not in any way connected with it,” said Gavaskar. “That is their line and that is where I think we’ll have the three-man committee decide on that.”