Indian cricket’s biggest clean-up drive has a new face and Sourav Ganguly is wearing a new hat. Connect the dots and you’ll have the news that’s going to help cricket lovers flash their brightest smiles. For many, this is the right choice. One among them is Justice Mudgal, who’s played a key role in the investigation.
For the benefit of people who don’t know what this is about, here’s a quick recap. The 6th edition of the Indian Premier League created ripples of doubt in the entire cricketing fraternity, when a mass spot fixing scandal was unearthed, involving players, officials, team owners and bookies. As soon as this discovery was made, there was a frenzy of activities buzzing around everywhere. The Supreme Court took swift action, taking charge from the BCCI and handing over charge to Justice Mudgal, who later came up with a detailed report, taking into account all the interrogations and evidence, nailing some of the key accused in the process. This report, which also seems to have named several Indian cricketers from the current national squad, was called the Mudgal Report.
Once the Report was out, it was the SC’s turn to come out with the verdict. The IPL charge was vested in Sunil Gavaskar. When it came to choosing the panel members of the Mudgal Committee, that would decide the fate of those accused in the betting/spot fixing scam, Ravi Shastri’s name featured on the list. However, this was rejected and the SC waited for the IPL to wrap up before this decision was made. Now, it has been decided that ‘Bengal Tiger’ Sourav Ganguly will be a part of the Committee to assist the other members on pure cricketing contexts and issues.
Why is this good news for Indian cricket? Ganguly has been a shrewd customer. He’s always spoken his mind, without bothering to be diplomatic, and without sugar-coating criticism. Plus, he’s worked with the younger crop of players, so he understands their perception too. Hence, when it comes to dealing with the cricket aspect of this scam, who better would fit the bill than Ganguly? Plus, he was also a part of the team when the 2000 version of the match fixing scam happened. With insights on how individual players, a team and its staff react under such situations, Ganguly is perfectly equipped to assist the Committee, which also has senior advocate L Nageswara Rao and Niloy Dutta and IPS officer BB Mishra, apart from Justice Mudgal himself.
This also comes across as a great opportunity for Ganguly to take back Indian cricket to the era when every ball was a mystery, unfolding in its own sweet cricketing way. For all that Indian cricket has blessed him with, it is the  opportune time for him to give back something to the betterment of Indian cricket. The best part about it is, he is allowed to carry on with his media commitments, so nothing really stops him from doing his regular stuff. Here’s hoping Indian cricket is heading the right way!