 Double standards
 All's well with Indian cricket. Ganguly never faked injury, it was a miscommunication, Greg Chappell’s other serious charges need not be answered, and in one smooth manoeuvre, the BCCI in its infinite wisdom has stilled the coach’s voice. Both Ganguly and Chappell stay, performance and merit will be the sole criteria and everyone will put the interests of Indian cricket before self.
The people most disappointed must be the media, because they will have nothing to speculate on, no opportunity to perch themselves on high moral ground and tear the protagonists of the Indian cricket drama to pieces.
Until one of the actors in the drama breaches the agreement with the board and drops a few heavily veiled hints at what is going wrong behind the scenes in Indian cricket.
Was this whole sordid mess not the creation of the media in the first place? In every recap of the imbroglio, we are shown a clip of Harsha Bhogle with his back to us asking Ganguly ever so gently whether there was talk of Ganguly stepping down. To which the Indian skipper replies with a suggestion of mystery, “Not from my side anyway” or words to the effect. Bhogle then asks him if the idea was put to him by someone else. Once again, the mysterious smile, and an answer in the affirmative.
 Next, coming to the notorious leak of Greg Chappell’s explosive e-mail. Whoever leaked it, was it not given publicity by a newspaper and then lapped up by every player in the media? Naturally, it’s the media’s job to broadcast news, not to safeguard Indian cricket, and I am being ever so naïve in finding fault with a newspaper reporter for a brilliant scoop.
Of course, it’s the duty of the media to expose the seamy side of life, the seamier the better. All I ask of them is, please, for God’s sake, don’t be so holier than thou and pretend to be the saviours of Indian cricket in the same breath. Don't snicker, snigger and laugh out loud at the follies of the players, coach and the BCCI, while at the same time acting like the cheapest kind of yellow journalists, trailing Ganguly, Dalmiya, Chappell and the rest of the cast from home to airport to airport to wherever they are headed next, drooling at the very hint of a
sound bite. Spare us the hypocrisy.
V Ramnarayan
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