Virender Sehwag feels players must act responsibly

Former Indian national team opener Virender Sehwag feels every individual playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) must be responsible enough to keep illegal indulgence at bay. The spot-fixing incident in the IPL was brought into the limelight when three players of Rajasthan Royals (RR), including Indian national team bowler S Sreesanth, were arrested by the police for involving in illegal activities.

The Chavan-Chandila-Sreesanth trio incident is now past, but a new trio has rekindled the spot-fixing flame. On Thursday, the local police of Kanpur arrested three bookies from Hotel Landmark. The Gujarat Lions’ players were staying in the same ‘infamous’ hotel, and the bookies, after booking rooms in the hotel, shifted closer to the rooms of the players. Reports suggested that they were in the hotel to strike a deal with the Gujarat Lions’ player, but the police were very active to prevent it. The bookies are as understood members of an illegal betting syndicate.

The bookies later admitted in front of the police that they were staying in the hotel so as to fix the match. Though BCCI ACSU later clarified that no such deal had been made, but Gujarat Lions eventually lost the match even after posting a humongous total on the board. Virender Sehwag, the mentor of Kings XI Punjab, feels that it is up to the players to maintain the moral code of discipline.

Sehwag’s views

At a meet and greet session organised by 92.7 Big FM, he said, “You can’t stop all these things. It’s the player’s responsibility whom he wants to meet. It’s my wish whom I want to meet. If my conscience is clear then I can help keep the game clean too. You can keep enormous security, but they can’t stop anything if the player wants to do something (unlawful). It’s the player’s own responsibility to ensure that no one questions your integrity.”

“If anyone makes any comments about me (allegations about betting), then during my playing days I would have said I will retire. Now (if someone makes allegations) I would say wipe off all my records. If players take such type of responsibility (stand), then these guys (bookies) won’t approach you,” he further added.

Three men arrested

What makes the case more interesting is that out of the three arrested men, one worked as a sub-contractor in IPL who bragged to the bookies about the fact that his access to Green Park groundsmen will help him tamper with the pitch. Sehwag, the owner of two Test triple centuries, said that he never allowed any unknown individual to approach him while a series was going on during his career.

“I don’t remember meeting anyone unknown in the hotels because it’s my choice. If my friend comes to meet me, then I ensure that the friend comes and his friend doesn’t come along. (Similarly) if someone related to me comes to meet me, I ask him not to bring along anyone else. It’s all about player’s awareness,” Viru added.

On the passion among the fans for the game in this country, he said, “This game is such that it will give you a lot, but if your image is tarnished then you also lose the respect. People love cricket in this country. But if someone does bad with this game, they sideline them and keep talking bad about him, which no player wants to hear.”

The police and the Anti-Corruption unit’s officials cannot keep a close eye on the players all the time. In IPL, every team has to travel a lot and attend many sponsor events. Hence, it is obvious that players will meet new people during the course of the tournament. But as Sehwag said, it is up to the players now to keep themselves away from any illegal indulgence, so that no one can question their integrity and sanctity.