by Sreelata S. Yellamrazu
An interesting conversation ensued and the topic of discussion was the possibility of Chennai and South Africa’s Warriors devising a way to manipulate the result. It was the air of match fixing that has been hanging so heavily that prompted the discussion, but unlike other sinister motives, in a situation where a third team is depending on the fate of the match, sidelined because it cannot actively participate in the outcome, could not have Chennai and Warriors decide between themselves to help each other?
At the outset, one has to mention that this was pure figment of the imagination scenario, cooked up in the living room/drawing room ( depending on the reader’s taste ) and there is no alluding of such a scenario having actually taken place.
The situation seemed perfect. The Chennai Super Kings total of 137 seemed neither too much nor too little, just enough for either team to take the plan forward. The general premise was that the total would be too little for the Warriors with their belligerent captain, David Jacobs, going hammer and tongs. However, if the Chennai Super Kings played it smartly, they could convince the Warriors that since Chennai needed to win the game, and the Warriors needed to at least lose by a narrow margin, they could mutually assist each other in their objectives, thereby eliminating Australia’s Victoria Bushrangers.
The match seemed indulgent enough as exactly to form, the Warriors dashed their way to a half century before losing a couple of wickets. Then, the game slowed down drastically from that point on. Part of the reason was the dismissal of Jacobs himself, but then the game in the living room carrying with the suggestion that the runs were being deliberately scored slow because a promise was made to Chennai.
Taking this fictional saga forward, it appeared after a point, that the Warriors were losing a few too many wickets for their own good to jeopardize ‘the plan’. And it was obvious not all of the players were in the loop ( keeping the story real). Mark Boucher came in and felt the need of the hour was acceleration, perhaps untrusting that Chennai would keep their promise, and what followed was the Warriors suddenly stepping on the gas. But somebody reminded him he has to take it easy. And Boucher holed out to Justin Kemp of CSK with the Warriors still needing a couple of runs to qualify at 109 runs. Once the 109 runs were achieved, once again the batsmen struggled to find the ropes or the intent and the end came sooner than expected.
What fuelled the imagination further was the fact that in the post match interview, Ravichandran Ashwin spoke about it being a “result of what happened behind doors” and stating “we are taking Warriors along with us”. What he was really referred to, at one hopes, was the hard work by the Chennai Super Kings and the by-result of the match wherein the Warriors managed to qualify as well.
At the post match presentation Michael Hussey, the man of the match for his half century and two catches, stated, “David (Hussey, the Victoria Bushrangers captain) would not be happy,” which in taking our story forward, decided it meant that Chennai’s collusion with the Warriors would be war between brothers if the younger one ever found out.
Thus ended a very devious minded story line, based purely on wild imagination and baseless speculation, but one that seemed rather real as the match wore on. It is perhaps only one indication of how much the whole match fixing allegations that have whirled have impacted the viewer that even an avid cricket enthusiast can, on the rare occasion, put his/her mind to actually think up something that they did not even think was in the realm of possibility.
Perhaps it is one way of dealing with it – a defense mechanism, if you will – so the next big storm in cricket does not take the genuine aficionado by surprise.
Now it is back to the real game, the one on the field.
Disclaimer: The story above is pure 'cock and bull' and there is no truth to it, other than the fact that the fictional story was cooked up.
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