That man, Javed Miandad is back at his chirpy best. Terming the Indian Premier League as a joke, he has also said that he smells that match-fixing could be a part of the tournament. The rationale that he has given is that some of the results have been very surprising, especially with teams losing from positions of strength.
Miandad also termed the IPL as not being cricket. He said, “I don’t consider IPL as cricket, it is a joke.” He also told the news reporters that he was surprised that the ICC’s anti-corruption unit was not present at the event. It must be remembered that the ICC had offered the BCCI a total corruption cover for a sum of $1.2 million, but this was rejected by the BCCI.
Taking a dig at the IPL, he also said that the ICC must take steps to stop the IPL because it was damaging the sport and forcing players to prefer riches over international matches. He gave the example ofChris Gayle who had only recently said that he would want to give up on his captaincy to concentrate on the shorter format of the game.
My take on issue: Shooting from the lip is what Miandad was famous for even during his playing days, and this is no different. Making statements without evidence is something that Miandad could do well without, especially given his stature as one of the better cricketers during his playing times.
One point that I agree on is the absence of anti-corruption unit, something brought about by BCCI’s reluctance to spend a million dollar or two. In a billion dollar tournament, a million spent for a necessary cause is a paltry amount.