KARACHI: Although cricketers in other parts of the world also get involved in corruption, it is the cultural nuances in South Asian teams that make it hard for individuals not to get involved in such practices. This was said by novelist Omar Shahid Hamid in his talk based on his research on corruption in cricket that he did for his new novel The Fix at the Aga Khan University auditorium on Tuesday evening.

Mr Hamid said he never played cricket professionally but is a fan of the game. Since he is a police officer and a writer, it has given him a sense of two things: he understands human frailty and a good story. Cricket corruption has these two factors. Cricket has all the elements of a classic story: the battle between good and evil, compelling characters, tales of redemption and tragedy … almost Shakespearian in scope. Previously he had written books either based on his experiences or stories heard as a police officer. This was different because he tried to put away the fan in him and looked at cricket with a forensic point of view.

Mr Hamid in his personal capacity as a follower of the game recalled the first cricket scandal that broke in the 1990s. There was a very famous judicial commission called the Qayyum commission headed by Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum of the Lahore High Court. It captured the situation in the cricket fraternity to a T. But as a young fan at the time he discounted its findings because they were pointing to individuals which he had idolised; as a fan it did not make him happy. But when he started researching for his book he reread the commission’s report in a forensic manner. He found out that there was compelling evidence against several cricketers, enough evidence to prosecute them. “There is unwillingness [on fans’ part] to get to the heart of the issue.”

Author discusses corruption in the gentleman’s game

Sharjah’s role

Mr Hamid said 30 years ago Sharjah emerged as an offshore venue for cricket matches to benefit retired cricketers, with India and Pakistan as the two protagonists. The matches started attracting celebrities. At the same time, in 1984, Indian gangster Dawood Ibrahim moved to Dubai because he had gotten into trouble in India. He was a great admirer of cricket. He became a regular attendee of matches in Sharjah. Betting on cricket for [gangsters] emerged as an alternative to their established criminal enterprises. There was a large population of Indian and Pakistani Gujaratis and Memons who were keen on betting and were encouraged because gambling laws in India and Pakistan were, and still are, antiquated.

Mr Hamid said the next jump [from betting] was to have a fair understanding of the matches’ results, and incorporate players; Indian and Pakistani teams became the first victims of it. To cricketers it seemed harmless to give info on pitch report or weather to some overeager punters.

Mr Hamid said a lot of inquiries were about South Asian players, so was it a South Asian phenomenon? No, allegations were also made against reputed non-South Asian cricketers such as Martin Crowe of New Zealand and Shane Warne of Australia. But there were certain cultural nuances in South Asian teams that made it harder for those individuals not to get involved in such activities. For example, in Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka players have struggled with the issue of seniority or captaincy of cricketers going on beyond their sell-by date because they’re senior; such as the controversy surrounding former Indian captain M.S. Dhoni. But within a team it doesn’t support a culture of merit. It supports a culture of hierarchy, and along with it comes the culture of accepting what a senior says and not questioning it. “If I’m a bookie, the most important person I need to buy is the captain.”

Pointing out another factor Mr Hamid said then there’s the culture of arbitrariness when it comes to selection. After that comes the growth of franchise cricket where punters are willing to bet on random cricket matches that don’t mean a lot in the greater firmament of things. The franchise model [in the subcontinent] doesn’t seem to be one where you can make a lot of money, certainly not in the short term. So how would one supplement or hedge those losses? There’s been a fixing scandal connected to every franchise league in the world. It seems that the administrators of the sport have decide that if something happens on an international level it attracts more attention (like Indo-Pak games), so it’s far more profitable to them to focus on matches that are below the radar.

Mr Hamid asked can things be resolved, and answered that it saddens him to say no. “Every time you see a close match you wonder ‘is there a fix on’?”

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2019