Chennai, July 13:
Several cricketers have brought disrepute to the game by using illegal and unfair practices in the sport which should be actually based on honesty, uprightness and integrity, former Indian captain Bishen Singh Bedi said here today.
“.. It is the players who have caused havoc in world cricket, if not Indian cricket,” he said, speaking on ‘Is Cricket facing credibility crisis?’, organised by the Palkhivala Foundation.
Observing that the game is directly linked with honesty, uprightness and integrity,” he said, “For me, cricket is also linked with spirituality.”
Recalling the ‘bodyline’ tactics of former English captain Douglas Jardine, who placed seven players behind the batsman, he said, “Here you can see that the players brought this and later this was not allowed.”
“Ball tampering was brought in by players. They used bottle top, grease stuff and thereby took undue advantage. That’s why the ball is given to umpires these days after a wicket is taken,” said Bedi.
Making a sarcastic comment on ‘doosra’ delivery, he said, “What do you call another man in a woman’s life, who has already got a husband. Doosra! Is it legal? Then how can ‘doosra’ be legal on the field?”
“Somebody has to bell the cat, you know,” he said.
Blaming players for changing cricket’s reputation for the worse, he said, “From the length of the pitch, weight of the ball to height of the stumps, nothing has changed. But change is in the producers, directors and actors of the game. The tamasha is that they come to be seen. It was not there earlier.” (PTI)
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