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FLIPSIDE
The Bookie's Game By Dilip
Bobb
 No
one is betting against it any more. In fact, as any self-respecting bookie
will tell you, it's no longer odd, even though it may not be cricket, to
find that there's more money to be made in the game than people thought.
To get to the bottom of the match-fixing controversy, a hidden microphone
in the leg stump captured the conversation between a betting syndicate
prior to an important match. Here's how it went.
1st Bookie:
I have established initial contacts with the Indian team. Now we have to
proceed to Stage II.
2nd Bookie: How was the contact made, and
with whom?
1st Bookie: With the 12th man. I gave him a
cell phone and he's been holding it to his ear ever since. Only problem is
he doesn't answer when I call, though his face lights up. I suspect he's
mistaken it for a Walkman because the phone plays a tune when ringing.
3rd Bookie: We
must go higher up in the team. Find someone whose place is secure and who
won't get dropped.
2nd Bookie: That leaves us with just the
captain and Sachin. We can try Dravid, though. His future is starting to
get as shaky as his defence.
1st Bookie: Not a good idea. What can we ask
him to do? Get out for less than 20? He has been doing that consistently
ever since the World Cup.
3rd Bookie: How about Srinath? We can ask him
to bowl a few loose overs.
2nd Bookie: He already does that. In any
case, he's even quit playing for the state team. Our Indian players need
their rest and recuperation. Winning so many matches is hard on the
system. They're just not used to it.
1st Bookie: How about the middle order? They
are the key to winning or losing a match. Maybe we can try them instead?
3rd Bookie: You obviously aren't a cricket
follower. They've been collapsing as frequently as the northern grid in
peak summer. If they collapse any faster, the Indian tail will start after
Saurav and Sachin. How about the team coach?
2nd Bookie: His record so far doesn't
indicate that he can do very much to influence a game. He's more visibly
active in all those suiting advertisements than in cricketing action. We
must find some other way. We must think positive.
1st Bookie: That's what Saurav keeps saying
after every match and it doesn't seem to have any effect on the players.
2nd Bookie: We shouldn't give up as easily as
they do. Surely cricketers are ready to take a dive if the incentive is
attractive enough.
3rd Bookie: Let me remind you of the
prevailing evidence which clearly proves that our cricketers will never
dive, no matter what the incentive.
1st Bookie: There must be some way of
demoralising the team.
2nd Bookie: They already have Mr Lele.
1st Bookie: Well, at least there's some good
news.
2nd/3rd Bookie: What's that?
1st Bookie: It proves that the Indian team
can't be bribed. |
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