IPL Spot-fixing: L K Advani disgusted with involvement of cricketers

NEW DELHI: BJP leader L K Advani today expressed his "disgust" over cricketers being embroiled in match fixing and spot fixing in return for money.

Against the backdrop of the IPL spot fixing controversy, Advani said in his latest blog posting that till now politicians have hit the headlines for engaging in corruption but now even sportsmen are increasingly getting caught in corrupt practices.

"I find it extremely disgusting, therefore, to find that cricketers are making front page headlines these days not because of the records they break, either in their batting or bowling performance, but simply because of the wealth they have been amassing due to their match-fixing, or spot-fixing, and in the process making the bookies and gamblers also grow richer," he said in his blog.

"I wish every mortal realises that one's last shirt has no pocket", he noted.

Talking about the cricketers belonging to the 60s and 70s era, he fondly mentioned an interview that Farokh Engineer gave recently where he agreed that they played the game with spirit and the joy associated with it and "with no money in the game".

"The political scams the country has been hearing about since the Commonwealth Games of 2008 have earned for the nation a lot of disrepute.

"But this last phase involving a different breed of icons only point out what is at the root of all this degradation -- it is money," he said.