'If five MPs are corrupt, that doesn't mean that entire Parliament is corrupt'

Former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Sanjay Jagdale on Thursday expressed his anguish over the admissions made by Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra.

"It is very unfortunate and this will further shake the faith of the fans in the sport. BCCI should give top priority to remedial measures as early as possible," said Jagdale, while talking to Hindustan Times.

A few days back the former BCCI official was summoned by the Delhi Police to get information on cricketing franchises and their owners. As to whether those inputs were responsible for Kundra being brought in, Jagdale did not confirm.

He, however, said: "Betting is wrong, (especially) when someone owns a team. It's just another instance of damaging the faith Indian cricket-lovers have in the sport."

The former cricketer, who once represented Madhya Pradesh in domestic cricket, defended Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni saying: "Dhoni is a part of the selection panel, but he doesn't have any voting rights. He can just suggest names only and he never promotes anybody."

Jagdale strongly believes that BCCI works for the promotion of cricket in right earnest. "There is no corruption in BCCI. Whatever wrong has been done, it has been by done by individual players - who are very small in numbers. But this has hurt me. This is not the cricket I had thought of. Somebody has to take the moral responsibility."

He agrees that spot-fixing in T20 has dented the image of the tournament.

"There are very few cricketers involved in it. This has created an impression that everything is wrong in the game of cricket. You cannot generalise. Not everything is wrong with cricket. This is not correct," he said. Drawing parallels to the Indian Parliament, he said: "If five MPs are corrupt, that doesn't mean that entire Parliament is corrupt. There are good and bad people in every field, not only in cricket."

Jagdale is at a loss as to why cricketers -- being educated, well paid and well taken care of - indulge in spot-fixing. "There is no reason why they should be doing this. They are paid better than any other sportsmen," he said.

Jagdale feels that these are the lessons the BCCI will have to learn from the current episode.

"They need to sit together and give top priority to cleaning the system and all that has happened recently," he said, adding that till that happens even a genuine player who's dropped a catch would come under suspicion. "The onus is now on the BCCI to earn back the faith of the fans," he said.

Son of former Indian national team selector Madhavsinh Madhavrao Jagdale, Sanjay however, is opposed to the idea of BCCI being brought under the sports ministry. Nor does he feel that RTI can prevent "Sreesanth-type" incidents. "What happened to the Commonwealth Games which was under the sports ministry? Was it a smaller scam than this one?" he asked.

As for IPL as a whole, Jagdale bats for it. "IPL didn't hurt me, but I never thought a cricketer can do such a thing." He said.