Cricket, girls, fixing and Premier Leagues – Opinion
Cricket has changed over the last two decades and while the sport became more thrilling and faster than its original form with the arrival of day and night matches, it also brought big money for the players.
With money came girls, but one would ask what is the big problem in that as football/soccer has more money and definitely is followed by more women than any other sport.
However, recent private investigations published in a book on betting have made startling revelations which not only lead one to believe that perhaps every match is a fixed extravaganza, where the bookies are pulling all the strings and the players and team
managements are just puppets.
Evidence has clearly suggested that a very active match-fixing underworld exists in India, where bookies are so influential that they can actually force the players to throw games.
But this is not without a price, as bookies pay heavy sums of money to the players for these favours.
Recently, the salaries of cricket players has sky rocketed, however, extra cash is always welcomed and this is where bookies come in.
Still, all is not bleak in the world of cricket, as there are many players who stay away from direct contact with bookies and are not willing to throw for the sake money.
But that does not stop the bookies from choosing other means to tackle such players and according to insiders here is when the girls are used.
According to a recent investigative piece, Bollywood actresses, models and even escorts from all over the world are used for persuasive means.
Ironically players are believed to have fallen for this trap where these girls, using their charms, have been successful in getting favours from the players.
Personally people should not have any problems with who the players are sleeping with or dating, but if this affects their performance, then that is where the lines need to be drawn.
It is time for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to step in and make sure that the girls the players hang around with are not agents of these bookies.
While betting is legal in some countries it still does not allow the bookies to influence the outcome of a particular game.
Unfortunately, cricket has been plagued by this menace for too long, and it needs to stop before the game is ruined forever.
So far all efforts have failed as even after the conviction of Pakistan’s spot-fixing trio of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Salman-Butt-c2418, little has changed where more and more events of possible fixing are surfacing in domestic/international cricket.
Calls for fixing are echoing these days regarding the ICC World Cup 2011 semi-final between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 which the Men in Green lost.
However, cricket boards of both countries and the ICC have shown little interest in carrying out investigations towards finding the truth behind these rumours.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625’s lack of strategy towards countering fixing is disturbing as the cricket boards cannot win this war against corruption without the might of the ICC.
Players need to be scrutinized on regular basis, and if found guilty, should be barred from the sport for the rest of their lives no matter how big they may be, this is the only way match-fixing can be eradicated once and for all.
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