mithil (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
why were you against the CBI report that suggested action be taken against azhar and other players?

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
mithil: I am not against the CBI report; The report itself says that there is no evidence of match fixing but heavy betting is going on. This is outside the purview of BCCI.

Miandad (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
Hello Kamal, Why are you shielding Azhar? Did you get any cut from Azhar?

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
miandad: I don't whether to laugh or to cry. The whole country has become so cynical that one can't hold his own views without being attributed with motives.

Sunil Kulkarni (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
mr.moraka, don,t you feel that the treatment meted out to Azhar is harsh considering the fact that there is so much of inconsistency in the CBI report

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000 )
Sunil Kulkarni: The only thing held against Azhar is the CBI saying that Azhar admitted to fixing three matches. In front of the disciplinary committee, Azhar denied making any such statements to the CBI. My colleagues on the committee did not think it proper to recheck with CBI which I would have liked to do. On the basis of hard evidence available, none of the players can be accused of match fixing.

GR Vishwanath (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
Kamal, guity should be punished. CBI has full evidence on Azhar, why can't you take action immediately?

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
GR Vishwanath: If CBI really has full evidence, they should prosecute Azhar in a court of law rather than ask BCCI to take action.

GR Vishwanath (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
Kamal, why can't we punish the guilty?

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
G R Vishwanath: Of course we must punish the guilty! Only thing that the guilt should be established and the punishment should be in proportion to the offence committed.

CP (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
Mr. morarka, ur statement that `are all the people in the CBI lil white' doesnt seem warranted...do u mean to say that the cricketers should be let off becoz of YOUR perception that the CBI is corrupt?..What sort of logic is that?

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000 )
cp: The two things are not connected. As far as cricket is concerned, nobody should be let off who has done something wrong. All the videotapes are available and he should ascertain who has done what, in which match; action should be taken on the basis of facts as we can see them and not on the basis of mobile telephone bills showing telephonic contacts between individuals without knowing what they have talked.

vinod (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
mr.kamal will the indain board agree to help other boards by ,allowing our players to be questioned if necessary

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
vinod: This will depend on the circumstances of each case. Just as Hansie Cronje's tapes were intercepted by the Delhi police and he became answerable, so also if some Indian players' conversation is found by some authorities abroad, he will need to answer.

Princess (Mon Dec 19, 2000 )
Mr Morarka, you seem to set great store by the power of confession. After the BCCI, is it true that you are looking for a stint in the Vatican?

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
princess: I am against depending on confession; it is the CBI which has said that they found no evidence of match fixing but Azhar confessed!!

Ajay (Mon Dec 19, 2000 )
Kamal, Why don't you keep the persons updated on what is heppening in BCCI. Why all the things are under the carpet??? Don't you think that BCCI should have a board of such people who should go and search for the better players as Ranji & other national tournaments are no good for searching the best players??

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
ajay: BCCI consists of representatives from 30 member bodies from all over the country. They are people who are involved with cricket and are constantly trying to do their best. Yes, there is need for greater effort to scout talent, specially among the youngsters. The world over, the trend now is to catch boys in the age group 14-15 which is much younger than what talent scouting was 10 years ago. BCCI will make all efforts to identify youngsters at an early age. Unfortunately, university cricket is not what it used to be and that is a handicap.

kunal (Mon Dec 19, 2000 )
why the bcci is not taking the steps for their officical involving in the match fixing such as Mr. Lele. He was knowing that india will loss the test series in australia by 3-0 and it was true that india had lost the series

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
kunal: Mr Lele denied having said so; the press called him a Nostradamus for predicting the result; there is no question of his knowing the result beforehand!

deen dayal (Mon Dec 19, 2000 )
Why was kapil spared inspite of evidence against hin

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000 )
deendayal: Ask the CBI!

Kumily (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
Which is more powerfull according to you Mr Morarka.. The Govt of INDIA or the BCCI..?

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
kumily: What is the comparison? Govt is all powerful, CBI is a wing of the govt; having spent six months investigating into cricket, they should have taken the matter to its logical conclusion by prosecuting those found guilty, but the report says that bookies cannot be proceeded against as per law; there is not enough evidence agaisnt players, and so BCCI should take action!!

kunal (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
Is BCCI is full of corrupt official that is not taking interest for finding out corrupt officials involved in match fixing and other bribing things...

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
kunal: The CBI report itself says that contrary that they did not find any present or past BCCI official guilty of match fixing or even betting.

Seshagiri (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
I think, Mr.Kamal Morarka,as a BCCI administrator, please try to raise the game level by involving EX-Eminent- cricketers in the administartion of the game. I think the industrialists,politicians,bureacrats should not be calling shots in running Indian cricket. If at all any industrialist interested in participating,he should do so in the capacity as a philantrophist. Politicians are absolute no-no, rather for any Indian sport. We should rather have professional corporate manager to run BCCI affairs. Your comments please.

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
Sheshagiri: There are ex cricketers involved in BCCI as also peopel from other walks of life. I don't think we should label people as industrialists, politicians, etc. Any person who can contribute to the development of cricket is welcome and he should come duly elected from his state.

vijay (Mon Dec 19, 2000 )
Throughout my youth, I have been watching cricket with passion only to know years later that the contests which i was watching were rigged and fixed. I feel cheated. Dont you think that the guilty cricketers have comitted a crime by playing with the feelings of the nation. THEY HAVE IN FACT SOLD THE COUNTRY AND CHEATED THEIR COUNTRYMEN. Then why are you by their side. If they did any service for the country they were paid for it??

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
vijay: Don't be disheartened. The matches you have watched were genuing matches, not fixed. In fact, a cricket match cannot be fixed unless all the players are involved. Even if we the CBI report at its face value, you will observe that we are talking of a time when the team had Sachin, Saurav, Rahul, Robin Singh, Kumble, Srinath, and Prasad against whom there are no charges. That makes it seven! Mongia has been exonerated, another player, Sunil Joshi or somebody at any given time may have been there; that leaves two: Azharuddin and Jadeja. You tell me, as a cricket lover and a person who has watched so many matches: Could these two have lost a match which all the others wanted to win?

Sudhir (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
Kamalji why is the BCCI not run by people who have/had some connection with Cricket. Why are Indian Industrialists fond of Indian cricket and not any other sports. India could have won more medals at the Olympics if Industrialists like you starts liking say Athletics,... Is there a hidden agenda behind Industrialist's love for Cricket?

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
Sudhir: It is true that cricket has become far more popular than other sports; thereby attracting more sponsors and more money to the game. Hockey used to be very popular, and India has even the Gold Medal in Olympics in the past. Sports federations connected with other games should also try to popularise their games so that they can attract good sponsors to take the game forward. It is true that a lot of money can be spent without the desired results, as we see in Olympics, but it is also true that you cannot get the desired results without spending money. I feel that BCCI has shown the way and other sports should try to follow. Of course, BCCI has scope for improvement which we will strive constantly to do.

vivekdeshpande (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
Mr Morarka So now you are saying clearly that Azhar and Jadeja could not have fixed matches....then all the betting syndicates are fools and so are the match fixers...as well as the CBI and the rest of us (the world) who believe that match fixing is a reality

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
vivekdeshpande: I don't know how many people really believe that cricket matches can be fixed! I would have rather liked a cogent response from you rather than a bland statement whether betting syndicates and the people who believe all this are fools. Betting syndicates have their own method of functioning and I am not very familiar with their intricacies. I seriously doubt whether the end result of a cricket match can be fixed depending on one or two players. At best, they can promise to underperform themselves, not more than that!

rwar (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
Kamal, what is the objective of this chat ??

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
Rwar: I don't know (the purpose of this chat). Ask rediff.com. Why are you wasting your time anyway?

vivekdeshpande (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
What about Hansie Cronje.....how could he have fixed macthes alone or woth the help of one/two other teammates ?

Mr Kamal Morarka (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
vivekdeshpande: We don't know what Cronje promised and what happened in the match. The fact is that it was established he took money, and therefore he had to face action. Any similar case in India should get similar punishment.

Nishant (Mon Dec 19, 2000)
Do you think that it will be better that Indian Government will take over the BCCI, by looking to the functionaning of BCCI?

Mr Kamal Morarka (Tue Dec 19, 2000
nishant: Govt interference does not help in any autonomous body. If an autonomous body needs to be corrected, a solution has to be found outside of the government. In India, you can yourself see the state of government-run bodies in any field!

vivekdeshpande (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
Thanks Mr Morarka...I appreciate exactly what you said. What I meant about match fixing was exactly that...some people can UNDERPERFORM (however with or without having a significant impact on the outcome of the game)...is that not what they are being found guilty of ???

samir (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
Mr Morarka, its very easy to fix a match even if u are the top scorer in that match.Winning a cricket match is all about pacing the innings ,as any guy who has played cricket will tell u,u could score a century but still make sure that the runs are not coming in a fashion which will win u the match.

Mr Kamal Morarka (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
samir & vivekdesphande: This is exactly the point. Let us see the videotapes of the matches in question and try to establish how the pace of the innings was changed, and by whom. THIS WAS NOT DONE. As regards underperformance, nobody has established underperformance by an individual in a particular match due to nexus with bookies. The moment that is established, action should be taken irrespective of whether we won or lost the match.

CP (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
Mr. Morarka, if you had the intelligence to understand that the basic Indian psyche doesnt allow for owning up mistakes, the world would be a better place to live in... Do u really think thick skinned guys like Azhar, Jadeja etc would accept their crimes publicly..Never !! The social fabric in SA or even here in Australia is different..people own up their mistakes and life goes on.. But why will you or your ilk understand that.

Mr Kamal Morarka (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
CP: I do not think that the Indian mind is different when it comes to owning up one's own mistakes. People all over the world are the same. Indians staying abroad have this tendency to draw a distinction which does not exist. In any other country, the system allows for a fair hearing on both sides; the Indian media goes on printing and unfortunately does not correct itself even when the facts to the contrary are established. The Indian libel law is too weak for an individual to sue a newspaper or a channel. The fault is not in the Indian individual but in certain legal systems which have not kept pace in India considering the spread of information and technology.

kunal (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
Well a Statment in the papers was said that all the matches were getting fixed after the dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar.... and in India presently saching dravid and ganguly are the players who can win the matches for india... well in the past jadeja and azar were there and were involved in such stupid thing .... Sir, Whzt u will tell about that...there was no underperfomance by indian players...

Mr Kamal Morarka (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
kunal: Let us not believe this general cynicism that all matches are fixed and all players are manageable! Some people have pointed fingers even at other players, but fortunately, the people at large do not believe it. In the case of Azhar and Jadeja, the press has believed it and repeated it many times. After all, public impression is gathered from the press!

ruchi (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
Mr Morarka .. do you believe there is corruption in BCCI .. Great!! now you blame the press.. but you will not find fault with Azzu and jaddu!! You are corrupt to the core. It is leaders like you that grew up under Indira Gandhi.. that have institutionalized corruption in India!! SHAME ON YOU

Mr Kamal Morarka (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
ruchi: There is absolutely no question of corruption in BCCI. Its accounts and financial statements are absolutely transparent, they are regularly audited, and filed with the authorities as required. Of course, one can always accuse BCCI of not being efficient enough, not being vigilant enough, etc; that criticism should be taken by BCCI in good spirit and we should strive to be more efficient, more vigilant, and make more efforts to develop and improve the game.

Sajid Bhombal (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
Mr Morarka: Forget 'legal' aspect. The 'fixing' episode is a 'betrayal of faith'. I put faith in our cricketers, and what they betrayed us for some extra Dollars (or rupees if you want to hear a swadeshi word)!. Now, how BCCI going to ensure that this does not happen in future?

Mr Kamal Morarka (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
Sajid Bhombal: Forget legal, I agree. But we cannot forget logical. Can you give me one instance where you think these people have deliberately underperformed or are you also going by the general press reports? Punitive action for the past should be taken only on hard evidence. Preventive action for the future, as you have suggested, should be taken by being vigilant about our boys and reprimanding for even use of mobile phones during matches. Of course, in case of necessity or family matters, one may need to use the mobile phones, but certainly not to talk to strangers or people connected with bookies and betting.

ashrafkhan (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
Sir do u think that Azhar and jadeja are guilty or not.

Mr Kamal Morarka (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
ashrafkhan: Re guilty or not: On the basis of CBI report, they are certainly guilty of having friends who were in business but were also betting business which the players say they did not know of. They certainly deserve punishment for keeping wrong company which leads to suspicion. Guilt of match fixing or even betting has not been established by the CBI enquiry.

Shaan (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
I think Mr. Morarka is the only person with 'balls' in the BCCI (and i am not talking of cricket balls here). Muthaih and gang succomed to the pressure from the media and hence jumped to judgements before trial.

Mr Kamal Morarka (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
Shaan: Thank you!

mithil (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
KOMAL, YOU SAY THAT WE PEOPLE BELIEVE ONLY WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.WELL THE PRESS DIDNT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THE FOREIGN CURRENCIES FOUND IN GEVASKAR'S LOCKER.WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT ?

Mr Kamal Morarka (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
mithil: The press in Bombay kept on writing about Gavaskar's locker. On that also I am very clear: Gavaskar is answerable for his locker and its content, and he is old enough to answer for himself. I do not share the unholy interest that everybody starts taking when somebody has money or some money was found in a locker. What has anybody to do with it? The authorities can ask Gavaskar and he can reply.

wellwisher (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
yo mst understand me.. coz i am a wel wisher.. but isn't BCCI ashamed that of the 6 cricketers punished so far for match fixing 5 are Indians??

Mr Kamal Morarka (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
wellwisher: The evidence found is only against South African cricketers. Two Australian cricketers have been established to be betting; they have been fined and allowed to play. Only in India, without adequate evidence, we are keen to punish our players. In any other country, these Indian players on the basis of this evidence, would not have been punished in this manner. They might have been fined for keeping contact with bookies or such things!

Mr Kamal Morarka (Tue Dec 19, 2000)
Everyone: Thank You All very much. I am aware that the general impression is against these boys, and yet, I have been appealing for being rational and dispassionate. As usual, dispassionate people have to take the brunt when passions are high!