Sachin, Dhoni must share our grief

It's the time to be proactive in Indian cricket. Yet, we hear so very little or at times, nothing, from our former and present cricketing stalwarts on the spot fixing scandal which hit Indian cricket last Thursday.

Sure, the BCCI were quick to release a statement when S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan were in the custody of the Delhi police. But what about statements from men like captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar? While one can understand these players' hesitancy to say things on their own, the BCCI should have procured statements from them and released it to the media.

This is a time when the cricket-loving country needs to hear comforting words from the people they adore.

Cricketers are often heard in interviews saying they want to serve the country. Comforting our countrymen and sharing their angst is part of service to the nation as well.

Rahul Dravid made a statement, but that was as captain of Rajasthan Royals. As usual, Sourav Ganguly has been lucid in his condemnation of the incident although he probably went overboard when he said he felt sorry for Dravid for having to cope with coach Greg Chappell and now Sreesanth, who played under the Bangalore great in the IPL. Chappell's coaching ways may have been questionable, but not his integrity and commitment to the job.

The BCCI must use their star players to campaign for a clean sport. These ‘say no to corruption' campaigns can be televised in breaks during IPL coverage with an advisory on what players/administrators/umpires should do if approached by suspicious characters.

If the BCCI is not proactive now, there is every chance that this IPL spot-fixing controversy will be a spark that will cause an ugly inferno.u00a0