Match-fixing in the IPL?
apwebster May 16, 2009
Tags icl, india, ipl, javed miandad, pakistan
Javed Miandad has never been shy of controversy (or of telling people what he thinks), and he is stirring it up once again by saying that "there is a definite smell of match-fixing coming from the IPL where strange things are happening".
Leaving aside the question of what match-fixing smells of, Miandad's justification for this assertion seems to be based on the fact that occasional bowlers are taking lots of wickets, and that teams are losing matches from seemingly unassailable positions. This alone isn't proof of foul play, as the bizarre and extraordinary is commonplace in Twenty20.
It does seem, however, that the preponderance of matches in the IPL and other competitions such as the ICL (which has itself been plagued by rumours of match-fixing) makes matches easier to fix. If the current growth of the shortest format continues, a situation could be reached which is comparable to the surfeit of meaningless ODIs that contributed to the Hanse Cronje affair.
I'm not suggesting that any matches in the IPL have been fixed, but cricket needs to be careful that it is not making a rod for its own back with 59-match competitions that are bound to create 'dead' matches that players (who are, after all, mainly taking part in the IPL or ICL for financial reasons) could be tempted to fix.
Leaving aside the question of what match-fixing smells of, Miandad's justification for this assertion seems to be based on the fact that occasional bowlers are taking lots of wickets, and that teams are losing matches from seemingly unassailable positions. This alone isn't proof of foul play, as the bizarre and extraordinary is commonplace in Twenty20.
It does seem, however, that the preponderance of matches in the IPL and other competitions such as the ICL (which has itself been plagued by rumours of match-fixing) makes matches easier to fix. If the current growth of the shortest format continues, a situation could be reached which is comparable to the surfeit of meaningless ODIs that contributed to the Hanse Cronje affair.
I'm not suggesting that any matches in the IPL have been fixed, but cricket needs to be careful that it is not making a rod for its own back with 59-match competitions that are bound to create 'dead' matches that players (who are, after all, mainly taking part in the IPL or ICL for financial reasons) could be tempted to fix.
