The monster of corruption has not spared even the games being enjoyed by the people of this nation. Gone are the days when the ordinary people enjoyed the games that took birth in this nation. The people of this nation have started evincing interest in games that took birth in the west, especially, the cricket. The ordinary people including the illiterates understood simply the game of football, volleyball, etc.  Before 1980s, the game of cricket had not become popular among the masses of this nation. Once the media started promoting this game by featuring the popular players of this game on advertisements of the greedy business empire, the cricket game has begun capitulating to the rich urban audience and finally fallen into the hands of corrupt politicians, tax evading business tycoons and popularity seeking Bollywood actors and actresses.  Even the rural youths started imitating the urban youths in watching and playing this game.  The business empire even started to advertise the rural children and youths playing this game for the sake of their business interests. Ultimately, the people of this nation were deceived into watching this game, wasting their precious time and money. Even the illiterate women of this nation have come to understand the nuance of this game to some extent.

The recent exposure of spot-fixing and match fixing in IPL has really displayed the ugly face of this game which has taken us for a ride.

All the players, past or present, are still making crores of rupees by getting tax free gifts at the cost of national exchequer. The middle class people who are mostly salaried employees are paying taxes through their noses whereas the rich players at times avoid paying taxes and have finally become millionaires. The business empire has become richer by this game. The Bollywood actors and actresses have become richer by this game. Ultimately, the sufferers are the millions of cricket watchers who have made the players as heroes of this nation. The people of this nation have even forgotten the great warriors who had sacrificed their lives at the altar of this nation, fighting terrorists, extremists and alien soldiers. The corrupt players have become role models for the youths of this nation, carrying the images of their favorite players on their T-shirts.

The Anti-corruption wing of BCCI has also become non-functional like any other Anti-corruption wing of the government. To our great surprise, it could not collect any intelligence information about murky deals between the bookies and the players. It is time for the government to dismantle IPL and to make BCCI accountable to the government. It is time for the government to promote other games like football, hockey, etc. which are not costly. Let us bid a farewell to the costly game of cricket and bury it once and for all so that we can save crores of tax payers' money and the precious time of the millions of cricket fans. 

Cricket deceives the poor but makes the rich richer!

(Job Anbalagan can be contacted through his email id: jobanbalagan@gmail.com)