At a time like this, when Cricket is facing its biggest “test” yet, ( by means of match fixing and corruption ) acclaimed sport’s journalist, Ed Hawkins’s “Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy” whose title is striking similar to “ Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” , comes as a reverse swinging Yorker aimed at middle stump..!! This intriguing sneak peak in to the underbelly of cricket betting mafia in India is nothing short of a brilliant piece of Journalism bolstered by vivid attention to detail and a bird’s eye view of the whole scenario of bookmaking business in India.
First things first, let me give you a brief description about Hawkins_ the author – as to who he is and where he is from. He is an Englishman born in London. He’s an award winning sports journalist specialized in Sports betting journalism. He writes articles for so many major newspapers and magazines Rajeev_Vermacially the likes of News of the World popularly known as NOTW and ESPN’s cricinfo.com i.e., the largest internet portal for cricket in India. He also holds a twitter account @cricketbetting which has around 5000 followers in India and across the globe.
Hawkins latest book titled Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy, explains us in clear terms the nuances of Cricket betting in India that is -- the parties involved, the opera d’tre and the weight and flow of financials it deals with. It doesn’t take a genius IQ to realize that Indian cricket’s financial sources includes not only broadcasting deals and the BCCI fund flows (the name is enough) but also the legal and illegal cash flows from the bookmaking mafia centered mainly in the South and Northern Part of the country. They have a very large network containing at least 1, 00, 000 punters who make the cash transactions purely based on mutual trust.
According to the author “ Bets can be placed in 4 markets – “ The ‘Lambi’ ” – Which is purely innings based (For ex : The bookies can predict an approx innings score which can be either less than or Greater than) “ The Brackets “ which are session-based (Like the scores say after 10, 15 overs). “ Lunch Favourites ” – Which includes everyday lunch time scores in a test and the first innings break score in an ODI game and last but not the least the overall match odds which is either Win, Draw or Lose.
It is pretty clear from his writing that the Author in contention – Ed Hawkins -- have done an extensive homework on the topic despite being an expert in the field. He has done an exhaustive background research in order to collect the materials needed to frame the main and sub topics interviewing people who are directly and indirectly linked with the game of cricket. Hawkins explains at the start
“ In the events leading up to the publication I’ve had talks with an entire cast of characters which involves -- major bookies in India, syndicate heads, cricket officials, ICC anti-corruption units and even the Delhi police who is either formally or informally have now become the official government agency carrying out the probes in both 2000 ”.
As a storyteller it’s commendable how convincingly Hawkins maintains a balanced viewpoint while taking us through the whole convoluted goings-on of bookmaking process in India. Of course he takes no names but to be frank with him, had a gigantic task of lacing this material through where even a “misused word” could lead to the total tarnishing of his Image. That’s because the line between taking stands and exposing the truth is so thin and fragile that even a misquoted sentence from his part could be taken in to account as corruptive/libelous journalism. But that’s where Hawkins and his book do a commendable job. He keeps the narrative so stoic that it’s hard not to be thrilled and provoked by the passages BGFS takes us through.
I can’t comment on everything because the review doesn’t permit it in terms of time and space but for your sake I’ll explain 2 of my favorite pieces. The most notable of the lot is the “2011 India versus Pakistan” game held at Mohali, CWC semifinal knock out where a certain Sachin Tendulkar was dropped at least 4 times in the match.!! Hawkins explains
“ It’s the match that made me so curious and doubtful. Tendulkar getting dropped 4 times on his way to 85 runs was outrageous and had an array of Skepticism surrounding it that even the Pessimist in me couldn’t believe the game is 100% pure.”
“ I got so many anonymous text messages during the game where Bookies explained to me in clear terms as to where the game is heading and to whose favor.” “ *After the game was finished, I tried to spark a controversy by submitting a letter to the ICC’s anti corruption officials and also tried to unravel the truths behind it by talking to my “contacts” in the “industry” and with the government officials in India but every actions from my part was met with a “dead bat”.”
Hawkins also takes a stab at the possible terrorist involvement in the whole “game of betting” and the so-called “ D-Gang* ” (Dawood Ibrahim Gang)–
“It was obvious to me. XXXX (Unnamed punter/bookmaker) have hinted me several times, a clear involvement of Davood Ibrahim and his gang in the whole controversy of Bookmaking in Cricket in India.”
XXXX xplained to me once that “ They (D-gang) have all given the book makers a bad name. We are fair people. It’s wrong to sat bookmakers make the threats.”
Also another commendable passage is the highly controversial “No-ball” spot fixing scandal where Pakistan players Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif bowled huge no-balls under the directions of their skipper Salmann butt in a test between Pakistan and England held at Lords in the 2010. The bookie involved in this scam was a Pakistani named Mazhar Majeed and according to Hawkins the whole scam is nothing but a silly joke where the bookmaker’s intention merely consist of proving his influence in the game.
“ It was a Joke !! It was nothing but Majeed trying to display his influence, it turns out - no bookmaker, even in India’s illegal industry, takes bets on no-balls.”
It’s all fascinating to go through all these phases in the book and even though I’m giving a thumbs up to Hawkins’s here, the only slight quibble I had is the over- indulgence or shall I say self-indulgence he showed in the material. He is an expert in the field I agree but it’s hard not to criticize the author for pushing some material in to the book simply because it was worth reading rather than anything else. The conversations, sometimes, distracted/diverted the main essence of the whole book and I’ll bet whether every reader going through each and every such line with utmost, unbroken concentration. I admit -- There were times during the book where I was literally yawning.
Despite these blemishes Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy is a terrific and informative book that every cricket fan – either in India or across the world – should try to lay their hands on as soon as possible. It’s a terrific piece of journalism that will slowly but steadily will find its way to a time capsule literature piece Rajeev_Vermacially in the years to come. For me it’s a book that holds a special place in my heart because it tackles with one of my favorite subject matters under the sun which is Cricket. For avid cricket followers like me who sits glued to each and every cricket match featuring the men in blues this book is comes as a pure fan boy dream. Bookie, Gambler doesn’t go down easy Rajeev_Vermacially for the sensitive issue it tackles with and I also agree that Cricket is a game of pure unadulterated entertainment but it’s because of ideologies like this that we must also learn to accept the fact that like in any game of sports Cricket also co-exists with such sport-spoiling, mind-numbing, harsh realities called Fixing and corruption. I’m signing off my first book review with my favorite and the final paragraph in the book that goes like this..
"with every step… on the long trip to cricket’s corrupt core, my confidence in the sport eroded… It has now ceased to be. "The pessimist that I have become will never truly believe the game is pure. It cannot be."
TAKE A BOW EDWARD HAWKINS, TAKE A BOWWWWWW !!!!!!