BPL and match fixing

HANSIE Cronje is my biggest cricket hero from the last century. He did what no one did before him. His career ended but his confessions jolted cricket for good and the whole anti-corruption thing started off. Many of his contemporary and earlier cricketers fixed matches but they decided to never speak of it and to speak as they were instructed to speak by the corporate cricket bodies.

I was not a big fan of Ashraful because of his inconsistency, but like many others I loved watching him when he was on song. But most of the time he went out in a manner you couldn't explain.

In this match fixing saga he defied all his bosses by telling all the truth. He did not think of the consequences to the whole cricket industry in Bangladesh. Just as the matches, many would blame his irresponsibility.

But this time the media should step up and look at the bigger picture. Let's look at him as a whistle-blower not a criminal. Responsible media should go deep down inside "Cricket Incorporated." Media knows the who's who of BPL and all the corporate franchises. Was it fixed how the owners of the franchises were decided?

Let us ask the investors why they chose to be in this business. If these are losing concerns on paper then why did they come in the first place? If they cannot pay the players, why did they bid? They will show LOSS in their statements to avoid Income Tax. But who would audit the black money earned through these franchises?

What was BCB's plan with BPL? Surely they cannot expect to duplicate IPL's success here. They surely knew this would open up ways for fixers to polluting cricketers' minds. Did they do their best to screen the event managers and investors from an anti-corruption perspective?

Responsible media must put forward more question to the corporate structure rather than the players who are more of victims than criminals. Only Media can put the executives to justice, otherwise they will keep harming the game under the cover of the "Legal Entity".

Surely Ashraful has angered all his bosses; he angered the whole organization. So this might be the end of his career. He is not Azharduddin, he won't become an MP; he might die in poverty unlike his corrupt bosses. But, Media please take the right side; take the side of truth no matter how big or how powerful "Cricket Incorporated" is. Do what perhaps the Indian media has failed to do. Do it to uphold the sacrifice of Ashraful; unravel the fixing corporations, the black money of cricket.

The writer is a professional Accountant.