Something Fishy

Corruption in cricket is no laughing matter. In fact it is about the only thing that I cannot raise a smile about at the moment. I am sick to death of it all and I am also hurt by it all - oh yeah and I'm not the only one..

Not a day goes by without some sort of reference hogging the headlines. Let's nail all these guilty perpetrators, get them out of the game and once again settle in to witness and enjoy the great spectacle that pure skill and determination delivers.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has done a sterling job in exposing players world-wide over the past few months and the release of their report to the public must be lauded. Now they are, not before time, turning their attention towards various cricket administrators. This hunt focuses around the involvement of allotment of television rights from 1996 onwards and will focus on the middlemen and event managers who handled (pardon the possible pun) the affairs. The CBI will specifically scrutinize the sale of broadcast rights of the 1996 World Cup which was jointly held by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the 1998 ICC knock-out tournament in Dhaka as well as the World Cup held in England in 1999. People connected with private and Indian state run television networks are currently being investigated. The Calcutta home of former International Cricket Council president Jagmohan Dalmiya was raided again on Monday after earlier attention in July. Time will tell the outcome of this one but you can bet with the CBI on the trail we won't wait long.

Although the task that the CBI and the Income Tax authorities in India have undertaken has been of an extremely serious nature, they have done it with some degree of irony and humour.

The codename for the overall operation was called "Operation Gentleman." Yeah right - how long has cricket been a gentleman's game? Significantly this scandal has confirmed it is no longer the case.

The raid on cricketing legend Kapil Dev was codenamed "operation GCI." Simple that one - GCI stands for Greatest Cricketer of India.

The raids on Navjot Singh Sidhu's residence was named "Operation OB." This was a basic referral to the fact that he opened the batting for India.

The investigation codename for the Ajay Jadeja was "Operation Fisherman." Sounds a bit fishy doesn't it? It was so named because Ajay publicly promotes a local mineral water and beer brand called Kingfisher on television.

"Operation OS" referred to the Indian offspinner Nikhil Chopra.

The most intriguing codename was not surprisingly given to the raids on Mohammed Azharuddin. It was called "Operation Vidyut," which, translated in English, the Hindi word "Vidyut" means electricity. Is that in reference to his sparkling stroke play? No, the connection is a lot simpler. Sangeeta Bijlani, his film star wife is called "Bijli" by her friends. Bijli is another word in Hindi for electricity - we all knew that!

So amongst all the doom and gloom surrounding the cricket corruption scandal, someone in the recesses of the CBI and Income Tax offices is quietly enlightening the procedure and no doubt providing the odd chuckle.

I hope we can all join him soon.