The shadow of spot-fixing now looms large not only over the gentleman’s game but also over commentary associated with it. Former Test cricketer turned ace commentator, Ravi Shastri, is under the scanner of the Mumbai police for saying ‘he flashed and flashed hard’ to describe an orthodox, copybook Rahul Dravid cover drive during the RR vs MI playoff.
Fellow commentator, Sunny Gavaskar, a stickler for technical perfection, almost choked over his microphone while Harsha Bhogle was rendered speechless, flashing his gummy teeth in response, as soon as those words were uttered. With bookies also taking bets for commentary in what is estimated to be a Rs. 1000 crore commentary betting market – current odds for Ravi saying “Its an electrifying atmosphere out there’ before the start of the finals is 3:5 – the possibility of spotfixing exists here as well. The Mumbai police were quick to summoned the former Champion of Champions to ascertain the reasons for using this and not some other cliché to describe Dravid’s classic cover-drive.
The development has stunned and disappointed viewers and cricketers alike but none more so than Dravid himself who said ‘this was worse than even bereavement.’ “I’ve always played the game with a straight bat and within the V and to have my cover drive described as a ‘flashes and flashes hard’ kinda stroke is like…” the Wall trailed off, as tears gushed out of his eyes.
Ravi has clarified that it was an inadvertent Freudian slip, given so much has been going on of late. “I’m contracted to mouth only platitudinous, superficial clichéd stuff related to what’s happening on the ground and not off it. The pressure of adhering to those terms perhaps got to me. I’m sorry if I have hurt people’s feelings,” he told The Unreal Times.
The Mumbai police later gave a clean chit to Shastri. “He kept making references to doctors, the kitchen-sink, tracer bullets, and some chap called Monty. It became difficult to comprehend his idiomatic phrases and we had to let him off after a few rounds,” disclosed Mumbai Police Commissioner, Himanshu Roy.