The IPL betting scandal has put cricket and everything
glorious about it under the germ scanner. Many people are delighted that such a
scandal was exposed because the IPL, according to them, represents all the evil
in this world - ungodly sums of money, sleaze, booze, dope... the list goes on.
Some are even calling for a ban on the gentleman's game. In my humble opinion,
all this hatred and negativity is uncalled for. The guilty must definitely be
caught and punished. However, just because a few people involved with cricket are corrupt, cricket does not become meaningless. It does not make the effort that honest players
put in worthless. Just as no player is above the game, corruption in the game
is not above the game. To be able to see the game in this light, we need to
believe in the sanctity of the game.
Belief is not something that comes easy. If we were to ditch
everything on the basis of corruption, imagine our life. No democracy because
most of our netas are corrupt, no schools because teachers are only interested
in taking tuitions and do not teach anymore, no religion because so many of our
religious leaders are corrupt, no movies because some movies are funded by the
underworld, no soccer because almost every other match is fixed, and now no
cricket because Sreesanth and his friends were such asses. Everything around
us, every system, and every institution is tainted by corruption. Do we abandon
everything because of this?
We need to believe in the good that still exists. Nothing is
ever purely good. The greatest good in this world has the potential to become
the greatest evil. We need to believe in the part that is good, and that it
will eventually always triumph. This could be in governance, in religion,
society, value sets, what have you. If we stop believing in our inherent
potential for goodness, we will be left wandering in a very dark place.
We need to believe that in the face of adversity, when the
darkest times are upon us, the best in us will stand up and deliver. In 2000,
when Azhar (my favourite batsman even when Sachin was in his prime) and Jadeja
were indicted in match fixing scandals, Sourav took the helm and with the help
of cricketers who played for pride and honour, rebuilt the side. Those of us
who never stopped watching cricket after Azhar was thrown out; those of us who
believed that this too would pass were rewarded with some of the best times in
Indian cricket.
As in cricket, so too in life, we need to believe that Good will thrive in spite of Evil and not in its absence. We need to believe that our Wall will not crumble. In the immortal words of Journey, "Don't stop believin'...Hold on to the feelin'."
