Match-fixing is not a new phenomenon in Indian cricket

Betting and fixing, now the talk of the town, existed for years in the domestic cricketing world but it wore a different hat.Far away from the world of glamour and commerce, it was not only money that held fort, fixing was also reportedly done in exchange of kind.

If not money, then what? The answer is a meal or a drink at a five-star hotel.This phenomenon dates nearly three to four decades back when expensive hotels were far beyond the reach of many cricketers who came from the suburbs.

The players considered the game as their religion and weren’t easy to approach and the operations were all within them.According to one of our sources, a bookie offering money, was once beaten up by two cricketers outside a renowned club in Kolkata.

Reports suggest that teams took each other into confidence under certain parameters. In many tournaments, during semi-finals and qualifiers, a team already through to the finals playing against the ones desperate for a win often threw the game. Many factors surrounded these tactics, for example, a team would any day want a weaker opponent in the finals. Tossing the match away in favour of a challenging side was usually avoided.

Many cricketers playing 1st division feared demotion and fixing took charge of their careers. Bowlers were paid a token to ensure a decent knock by the batsman in question. The same rule applied to bowlers needing wickets to stay afloat. Decisions and actions operated within one faction, like a family. No bookies, friends or filmstars could fit into the cut.

Former Hyderabad cricketer V Ramnarayan, who belonged to that era, told dna, “ I was not very popular among these people for I was indifferent to all this.” The incidents mentioned above are all within the domestic circuit across India.

The upshot is the presence of fraud which gradually became poisonous as it trickled down.

@Wriddhaayan