Cricket will survive the crisis, say legends

Though they refrained from commenting on Supreme Court’s proposals to cleanse cricket administration in India, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble said on Thursday that cricket would survive the latest turmoil.

Both Kumble and Dravid pointed out to the survival ability of the game in India. "There were allegations in the year 2000 (match-fixing) too and finally it all depended on how we as players performed. It is the same case now too and it all boils down to players doing well and earning respect. I don't want to comment about individuals. There is corruption in society and you cannot just look at the sport in isolation," Kumble, who is the chief mentor of Mumbai Indians, said at a promotional event here.

“This is nothing different to what we see in our society. There is no difference to cricket. Just because it’s a sport, you can’t have immunity. I can’t really comment beyond this, or on individuals. The matter is sub-judice, so let us wait for the SC to give its verdict, and whatever the final verdict is, I’m sure as law abiding citizens, all of us will abide by the decision,” said Kumble.

Dravid, who occupies a similar post with Rajasthan Royals, said cricket would surmount the hurdles. “I wouldn’t want to make a comment because these matters are in court, so we have to wait for court judgments. I don’t want to get into commenting on a court judgment, and the matter is sub-judice, so it’s better not to get into it.

“See, in every field of life, certain things happen that shouldn’t have happened. But it’s not that the whole game is spoilt. Earlier also there have been incidents like these, There are bad things in every sphere of life, but we should try to make them better. So, I don’t think the game will be lessened because of this.  The game is bigger than all this and it will go on,” he said.