Thursday, August 31, 2006

Gibbs decides to take it on

Gibbs has finally decided to face his long pending police interrogation session in India with the Delhi police that will hopefully close the Indian chapter of his involvement in the match-fixing episode. Since 2000 he has avoided visiting India citing grounds of possible arrest and harassment. here's a cricinfo report on his views of the forthcoming India tour:

Gibbs said that the delays were all at the Indian end. "They haven't really played their part," he shrugged. "You know, we've asked them many a time to come question me on neutral territory, and they refuse. So it's not like I haven't made the effort. It's them being hard-arses. That's it."

It is laughable how he expects to be interrogated on a neutral land for a crime committed on Indian terrotory. Easy to blast him for that, as Gibbs had confessed to involvement in the controversy. Long dragging worries though can be thoroughly irksome - we all have a few (generally of smaller gravity) - and manage to bring out the prickly side of men. Poor guy, this Herschelle Gibbs. Brilliant batsman he might be inside of the 22 yards but he still is an ordinary man in an extraordinary situation and fighting to come out of it with no UCBSA in sight this time to approve a 'withdrawal'.

As I recently commented here, everything in cricket today is not just cricket and it is futile in the long run to skirt issues that test the mettle. At least Gibbs has decided to face the consequences and we need to appreciate that thought. He need not be worried; here in this country we all respect him for his timely withdrawal and throngs of people will surely come out in his support if he is harassed without a reason while some other tainted ones belonging to this land strut around signing autographs and participating in weekly sports debates at prestigious television channels.

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