Former captain of the Indian team and ace leg spinner Bishan Singh Bedi blamed players for all the ills plaguing the game of cricket.
“Whether it be spot fixing or crass commercialisation, players are responsible for the failing standards and entry of undesirable elements into the game,” Bedi said at Chennai on Saturday. He was delivering the Nani Palkhivala Memorial lecture “Is Cricket Facing Credibility Crisis” organised under the auspices of Palkhivala Foundation, Chennai.
“Players caused havoc in world cricket. It all began with Douglas Jardine who invented the body line bowling. The body line bowling had seven fielders on the leg side. When the body line bowling became a menace, the administrators took over the game. Since then you cannot have more than two fielders behind the batsman,” said Bedi.
Bedi, who during his playing days cast a magic web around batsmen with his innocuous looking deceiving deliveries, described cricket as a game associated with honesty, uprightness and integrity. “Whenever someone opts for unfair practices, we say it is not cricket. That itself shows the intensity of the respect commanded by the game all over the world. For me, it is a form of spirituality,” said Bedi.
He criticised those demanding the cleansing of Indian cricket. “Cricket was never dirty. If ever there is any bloat on the game, it is because of players. Their actions on and off the field have defied the game. The tampering of balls, appointment of third umpire and match referees are all because of the activities of the players,” said Bedi.
The former captain waxed eloquence on Tiger Pataudi whom he described as the best captain he had played under. “We never had any dances or jumping in the pitch when a wicket was down or a century was scored. All we used to do was to greet the spectators,” he said.
The bowling action of Harbhajan Singh India’s lead spinner came under severe criticism of Bedi. “Chuckers and Doosaras are illegal and call for immediate banning. We have to take instant action against the perpetrators of such illegal activities. The last IPl saw 25 chuckers being bowled and the player walking away without earning any warning,” said Bedi.
He said the IPl was harming the youth. “Young players reach the saturation point too early. They lose the drive to achieve great things in life because they earn `80 lakh per match. The player by name of Gautam Gambhir earns more than the president of the USA,” said Bedi.
He also said that it was difficult to name a player from the current lot who could be the role model for the youth. Bedi summed up by telling that cricket would be dead without Test Cricket. “There can be no cricket without Test matches,” he said. The audience was in for a shock when he recalled the attempts by Kerry Packer to rope him in for the World Series Cricket. “They approached me three times and all the time I said no to them because I knew the sacredness of the game would be finished with such gimmicks,” he said.