IPL 7: Dear Dhoni, sarcasm and match-fixing don't go well together

The smile on your face Lets me know that you need me. There’s a truth in your eyes Saying you’ll never leave me. The touch of your hand says you’ll catch me wherever I fall. You say it best when you say nothing at all.

- When you say nothing at all by Ronan Keating

There is no denying MS Dhoni oozes cool. Like James Bond, he gives you the impression there is no situation from which he cannot emerge unscathed and victorious. It’s easy to picture him laughing in the face of danger. It is a good quality to have in a cricket captain. As everyone knows, Dhoni never gets too up or too down on the cricket field and his calmness allows him to handle pressure situations without worrying about failure.

Sometimes though, circumstances demand more than a breezy coolness. When Dhoni was asked how this season’s IPL could be kept clean, he quipped: “We will try the laundry, that’s good, will keep us clean.”

It was funny, sure, but it isn’t enough. Or appropriate. Dhoni is the captain of India’s cricket team. He is a public figure in a prominent position of leadership and responsibility. He is a role model for millions of fan around the country and the world. It isn’t just his players who take their cues from him, fans do too. When he laughs off what are serious allegations that strike to the very heart of cricket, it suggests not only that he doesn’t care, but we shouldn’t as well. It reflects a crucial lack of leadership on perhaps the most crucial issue facing the game today – corruption.

There are admittedly certain legal risks to speaking out and Dhoni is entitled as an individual to refuse to answer questions. He has a right to stay silent. But he also has a duty as India’s captain to speak out. He has a duty to not just behave in a way that is above suspicion but also to appear to behave in a way that is above suspicion. It is the culture of silence in Indian cricket that has allowed all manner of conflicts of interest to flourish. It is those conflicts that are now hurting the BCCI and the sport. It is a culture Dhoni needs to break free of.

The last few months have not been kind to Dhoni. His captaincy in Tests has been questioned and his name has been dragged into the IPL betting and spot-fixing case, as it appears he made false statements to the Mudgal Committee. Harish Salve, one of India’s most high-profile lawyers, even went on television and publicly said Dhoni should be investigated by the BCCI over his testimony. There are also questions about his ties to India Cements and N Srinivasan, who the Supreme Court has temporarily removed as BCCI president.

Through all this we have heard from experts and pundits, journalists and observers, former players and fans. The one person we have not heard from is Dhoni. His most prominent act so far has been to file a Rs 100 crore defamation suit against Zee TV. Then came yesterday’s quip. It would have been better if he had said nothing at all.