Give Azharuddin a preacher's role

By John Cheeran
Mohammad Azharuddin is in news again. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is discussing the possibilities of lifting the life ban imposed on the former Indian captain for his role in cricket match-fixing.
Azharuddin’s innocence in the match-fixing episode is debatable.
To err is human, Azharuddin is human, and circumstantial evidence suggested that Azharuddin maintained close links with bookies and fixers. May be the degree of Azhar’s involvement can be debatable, but it is a disgrace that he entertained such friends to the detriment of team spirit and spirit of sport itself.
Azharuddin’s act attained gravity considering that he was India’s captain.
And he was such a naïve man, ignorant of his historical significance as the symbol of India’s secularism in a turbulent time in independent India.
Azharuddin betrayed Indian cricket; may be others too have betrayed Indian cricket, and just because they wriggled out of the information net, that should not set Azharuddin free of his burden.
BCCI is planning to lift the ban on Azharuddin only to settle a score with International Cricket Council. Sharad Pawar and Lalit Modi are wise men and they may do as they please.
The biggest factor that may work in favour of Azharuddin is his studied silence on the issue. Apparently, the innocent boy from Hyderabad knows much more about match-fixing than he ever confessed to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
He was expected to shock and awe Indian cricket, by naming some of the big guns who co-operated with him.
Azharuddin, however, has kept his vow of silence.
Azharuddin can be touchable again in Indian cricket, thanks to BCCI’s generosity.
If that is the case, BCCI should give Azharuddin a preacher’s role.
A role in which, a prodigal son talks to young Indian cricketers of the temptations of easy money in sport.