Once again, the credibility deficit of the Board of Control for Cricket in India stands underlined. A three-member committee recommended by the BCCI to hold an investigation into charges concerning the Indian Premier League matches last year has not found favour with the Supreme Court. Instead, the Court has, in a welcome move, chosen to request Justice Mukul Mudgal, who headed a Court-appointed panel that came out with an insightful report earlier, to hold a full-fledged investigation. The probe will cover allegations contained in a sealed cover against 12 persons, including some cricketers, besides N. Srinivasan, related to the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal. It has suggested that Mr. Justice Mudgal could also take the assistance of investigative agencies. Going by the manner in which the Board responded to the Court’s suggestion at an earlier hearing that it should spell out how it proposed to conduct an internal inquiry, it is clear that the cricket body is more worried about the fallout of a probe than getting at the truth. When the Supreme Court itself was against any police agency probing the matter — so that the players’ reputation and the Board’s autonomy were not undermined — all it had to do was come up with a panel comprising members with no obvious conflict of interest. Yet, what the Board proposed was a committee comprising a former CBI Director with some connection to a team in the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association league, a retired Calcutta High Court Chief Justice related to the court-appointed BCCI president Shivlal Yadav, and a former cricketer with a lucrative commentating contract with the Board.
While all of them — former CBI director R.K. Raghavan, Justice J.N. Patel and Ravi Shastri — are individuals of undoubted personal integrity, experience and understanding of the issues involved, the BCCI could not have lost sight of the need for an investigation of some of the leading personalities in Indian cricket to appear to be fair and free of any conflict of interest or connection with the BCCI. There can only be one explanation for the Board not coming up with a plan for a credible investigation by a completely independent panel: it does not want a fair inquiry even if in the process its credibility takes a beating. It reveals an unwillingness to shed its image as an opaque clique. What cricket fans and the public need now is reassurance that the glamorous flagship tournament of the BCCI is not yielding illegal spin-off benefits to punters, bookies, fixers and assorted operators seeking to capitalise on the popularity of the sport. Apart from a thorough clean-up of the game, the Indian cricket board needs to win back the trust of the game’s fans, and the public at large.