Like Caesar’s wife, he should be above suspicion. The game may be full of tainted players, but Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is the living embodiment of the ultimate sporting fantasy of small town boy going on to conquer the world while it in turn showers him with riches, could not be seen even remotely near fixing scandals. It is only right then that he has sued a couple of television stations and a police officer for dragging his name recklessly into the muck surrounding the Indian Premier League without the proof needed to air such charges.
It is quite another matter that his own team, Chennai Super Kings, has been dragged, along with spot-fixing players of Rajasthan Royals, into the latest and most dreadful episode of the IPL betting scandal thanks to the involvement of team official Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI president N. Srinivasan. The matter, a deep and complex issue, is up before the Supreme Court.
It is entirely up to the top court to give direction to Indian cricket, which seems incapable of ridding the game of corruption. The Justice Mudgal Commission’s report might just be the guide for the huge correction courses needed if IPL is not to lose its credibility altogether. And if Dhoni wants to learn a lesson from history, let it be known that Julius Caesar divorced his second wife, Pompeia, saying “my wife ought not even to be under suspicion” after a patrician had sneaked into the women-only festival that she was leading. Now, it really is up to a few good men to clean up the game.
