Does Match-Fixing Still Plague Sub-Continental Cricket?

Randomly voyaging through videos on youtube I landed on a video which showed the Pakistani team being felicitated, after their successful tour to India back in 2005. At the event Omar Sharif, the legendary Pakistani comedian, ribbed present and former Pakistani cricketers (Indian too). In the end he had a sane message for all cricket fans, that to trust the players and not rake up the match-fixing doubts every time the team lost a match. A noble thought and perhaps something that needs to be shoved down many a throat.

While I have always been one to quash doubts of rash friends every time they pointed out the probability of a match being fixed, I had an exception the other day. Pakistan vs. South Africa. I joined the match late in the second innings at the office gym; aware that this was the decider I half-heartedly went about dumbbelling my biceps while keeping a close eye on the match. The equation read 35 runs off 56 balls, with Afridi and Misbah at the crease, piece of chocolate cake. After the drubbing that Pakistan received at the hands of SA in the test series I really wanted Pakistan to win the one day series.

What happened over the course of next 20 minutes awakened the cynic in me after long. The equation changed from a comfortable one to being out-of-reach. The batsmen chose to defend when they should have opted for singles, worth mentioning here that the bowling was ordinary and lacked any sting whatsoever. Misbah even ‘well-left’ a couple of deliveries. And as the self-created pressure began to mount, he played an expansive shot and holed out to the cover fielder. The reasons for playing a shot like that are best known to Misbah, for it was an utter disregard of team requirements. Required rate was just under 4 then.

Gifted with a license is Shahid Afridi, license to play the way he deems fit irrespective of the match situation, he didn’t do any harm to that privilege by recklessly swinging at balls when all he should have done was keep the ball on the ground. After one swing too many he too got out playing a Misbah like shot only this time it was a spectacular catch. All this while the required run-rate was hovering between 4 and 5, a very achievable task with recognized batsmen at the crease. Perhaps, Misbah and Afridi wanted to finish off in style, by plundering the South African bowlers. Surely they knew victory would not just have sealed the series for them but made history of sorts, it would’ve been their first ODI series win against SA. Yet, they played the way they did.

With the tailenders at the crease Pakistan had their backs against the wall. And the chokers this time were in no mood to give up on the Biryani served on a silver platter, the tail was cleaned up in no time. Pakistan lost 6 wickets for 20 runs, when the pitch had no evil, bowling was no where close to being caustic, all the batsmen’s doing.

The on-field cameras liberally showed crowds in the stands, the disbelief was palpable. Shock was writ all over Pakistan coach’s face. A series win before the tour to India begins would have helped boost confidence levels. What begot this defeat? Reckless batting or burgeoning bank balances? Tough to make out; but raised eye brows? Aplenty!