Sports Quotient

Shashi Tharoor has paid the price of the ‘sweat equity’ that was given to his friend Sunanda Pushkar. Only he would know if the price was high or low.

We expect other skeletons to come out of the closet soon – the ones relating to all the bids and auctions that have taken place in the IPL so far.

There is enough circumstantial evidence already and I am not ready to believe that the IPL is bereft of financial wrongdoings , especially on the part of its self-styled commissioner.

It is also obvious that a lot of people in the corridors of power ( of both cricket and politics) are not happy with Lalit Modi. They are hell-bent on exposing him.

The IT dept and other govt sleuths are on the job and they will soon get their hands on incriminating evidence that could nail Lalit Modi and a whole lot of other people ( that is if they do their job properly)

Whether this evidence will lead to something or not is an altogether different matter.

That depends on what the people in power ( the ones mentioned above) have in mind. Do they have the best interests of Indian cricket in mind? Are they doing all this so that the money generated from the IPL does not fall into the wrong hands?

Based on the history of similar cases in this country, I would say that the answer is a confirmed NO. Powerful people who commit big scams never get caught in India. Other powerful people see to it.

The powerful people orchestrating the investigation are simply pissed off because they haven’t got their share of the booty. Because nothing or probably too little of the IPL money has fallen into their hands.

The evidence that the sleuths will find will be used to corner Mr Modi to start sharing the riches.

It is expected that Mr Modi will give in after some negotiation on the profit sharing. After all, he also knows that it is in nobody’s interest that he gets caught and nobody gets any money - all of it getting used for the betterment of Indian cricket.

They could even pay a small fine as commission to the powers that be in the IT dept

Then all of a sudden matters will cool down and the IT sleuths will go back to catching normal middle class Indians.

Everyone will go home happy. Except for Mr Suresh Kalmadi.

Why?

Because he’s been too busy with the Commonwealth Games and missed out on all the IPL action. The action that is being played out in the boardrooms that is.

Most of the sporting facilities for the Delhi Commonwealth Games were built during the 1982 Delhi Asiad. They are now being upgraded to modern standards for the 2010 Games. Which means that they were in an almost ancient state and have not undergone any upgrades for 27 years. This could have happened in only one scenario;that most of these stadia have not hosted an international event of any stature since they played host to the Asian Games in 1982. Because if they had done so, then there would have surely been some upgrades. There is also a lot of renovation and repair going on which clearly indicates that these facilities were poorly maintained and looked after for all these years. Our sportsmen and athletes have been practicing in these poorly maintained and ancient facilities.

It is for the lack of regular upgrades and proper maintenance that we are spending so much extra on the upgrades now. That a substantial portion of this money is filling various pockets is another story.Should we be spending this massive amount of money if all this infrastructure will remain largely underutilized and left to rot once the games are over? Is there any reason to believe that the new facilities will be properly maintained and well utilized to train world-class sports persons and host top-level international events? They will probably get a makeover when we host the next international event; say sometime in the 2030’s under the aegis of Suresh Kalmadi operating from a hospital bed.

Is it still a matter of great pride that we are hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games?

After the can of worms that Vinod Kambli opened on ‘Sach ka Samna’, I have developed a craving for more.

These are the five guys that I want to see on the show

KPS Gill - After pinning him on the ropes with questions about Rupan Deol Bajaj, I want to move in for the kill with questions about the Beijing debacle and the time Jothikumaran got caught on TV selling an India cap for 2 lakhs.

Suresh Kalmadi - Will ask him about the time Sania Mirza’s mother was included in the Beijing contingent as a support official. Will ask him point blank if he had a thing for the mom or the daughter

Dilip Vengsarkar - Just want to ask him the reason why Ganguly was dropped from the national squad. He had promised to give a fitting reply after the Australia series but we are still waiting.

Lalit Modi - Did you actually dream of the IPL before the ICL was launched?

Ravi Shastri - Have you actually seen a tracer bullet race across a cricket field?

Who do you want to see and what questions do you have for them?