Of backseat driving and other crimes
Avinash Subrmanium
The BCCCCI has done it again. (I sort of like BCCCCI. Goes better with the BCCI than the BCCI.) And for those wondering what the abbreviation BCCCCI stands for, it's Board of Control for Crushing Cricket Careers in India. (And it's very, very accurate.)
Consider the latest decision, no diktat, issued by the board that the team does not need an off-spinner for the tour of Sharjah. Why? Because the board knows better! (Or at least thinks it knows better.) Because the board plays the game on the field. Because every member of the board is a seasoned cricketer who knows exactly what it is to be a left-hander and tackle the ball turning away from you. Because the board doesn't think left-handers find it just that bit harder to play off-spinners. (Even though the best left-handers, any left hander, in the world will tell you just that.) Because the board has secretly stashed away an off-spinner in disguise in the current team! Or any such hare-brained reason they can come up with.
Like…the board is not sure how fit Vijay Bharadwaj (the player requested for by the team) is. Has the board ever considered working a little harder and finding out? It's not like he's required for the next match in Kenya. And to think so many of us just finished praising the board for having picked a team with so much promise and positive energy. (Hmph! Now we know it had less to do with intention and a lot more to do with pure serendipity.) As usual, with most things to do with Indian cricket, we, yet again, jumped the gun. (By the way, no, Vijay Bharadwaj is not my favourite player. Just in case someone of you thinks I have an axe to grind.)
So when was the last time Jayawant Lele bowled to left-handers? And good heavens! Since when has the Board started caring so much about players' fitness? (If they did, they wouldn't sit on the acute need this team has for a regular physiotherapist.) What's with these people! Won't they ever learn? Won't this state of affairs ever change? And this is not the first time this kind of thing is happening. They did it when Sunny was captain. They did it when Srikkanth was captain. And from what I've read, thanks to Mr. Raju Bharatan's 'loaded-with-cricket-history columns,' they've been doing it all the time. Except, perhaps, the time Azza was captain. But then, Azza rarely ever voiced his opinion. Let alone, had a coherent and strong enough one to put forward. Maybe that's what made him the most popular captain they ever picked. Maybe that's why they picked him after Srikkanth. Despite Srikkanth being the only captain in the history of Indian cricket to return from a tour of Pakistan, I repeat, Pakistan, without losing the series. (One would have thought that alone would have ensured his place in the side and a fairer shot sat the captaincy.) Then again, this is the BCCCCI. If it's not the captaincy they're exchanging favours over, it's player selection. If it's not player selection, it's which back-of-the-beyond center should next be allotted the 'favour' of a 'benefit' match. And when it's not egos they're massaging, they're settling scores. Anything but doing more things that cricket in this country needs.
Like the one thing we didn't need was this latest 'disciplinary' action the board has decided to take against the Punjab Cricket Association. Which is just another way of telling the man who blabbered against them, Bindra, it's payback time! And how do they do that? By deciding cricket lovers and young, promising cricketers will be denied the opportunity of watching international matches in any stadium in Punjab. And of course, it doesn't make a whit of a difference to them the damage this could do to Punjab and Indian cricket. Or worse, young cricketers who will be most hit by this kind of pettiness. Not to mention the small matter of one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world, Mohali, crying for the kind of top-quality action a superb facility like that deserves. Just as an aside, Mohali also happens to possess one of the few sporting wickets in the country. But hey, who cares about minor things like the need for good playing surfaces. If they did, they wouldn't have passed the buck on to the 'late' pitches committee and then, inexplicably, sent the pitches' committee packing! (All minus, of course, a suitable explanation.)
Welcome to the BCCI. The Board of Control for 'ruining' Cricket in India.
Avinash Subrmanium
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