Only if our cricket Board had waited for a day or two, they could have avoided taking those harsh decisions against the players. Those decisions were taken without realising that cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties, and that the best team can always be humiliated by minnows.Bangladesh, who were instrumental in causing a great uproar at home by defeating India, added another feather in their caps, scalping the world’s top-rated ODI team, South Africa, that too by a big margin. It’s unbelievable, but not impossible in cricket. Now will the South African board behave as nastily towards their players for this ignominy?Just to prove how concerned the Indian Board is, an urgent working committee meeting was convened, calling up seven best former captains of the country, just to express their views on the issue. These, though, they had already conveyed through various available sources like the print and electronic media. The future of Indian cricket was sorted out in a jiffy and now is the wait for its implementation. That’s typical of the Board. In a crisis, call a meeting of some past eminent cricketers for their views and at the ratification time in the next meeting, raise another issue to cover it up or ignore it conveniently. Otherwise it is the same old wine in a new bottle. Same is the case of sanctimonious reports of the manager and the coach. Any Tom, Dick and Harry would have known these age-old shortcomings of Indian cricket and the perpetual lacunas in the systems.We are all aware that domestic cricket needs overhauling, needs participation of the stars who, right now, are so busy playing ODIs, courtesy the Board of Control for Cricket in India. How one wishes all our cricket grounds looked lush green like the ones in Australia, England or even Sri Lanka. How the wickets need to be prepared on the lines of other countries. How this zonal selection breeds regionalism. How too many endorsements divert the players’ focus from the game and how pathetic is our fielding and the running between the wickets in comparison to the other participants in the World Cup except, may be Bermuda.Finally, with all these committees and sub-committees, it is proved who is the boss. Otherwise, how can one ask for a clarification for the statement made by Sachin against the allegation that he was a part of the mafia which caused the split between the seniors and the juniors?Instead of siding with this great living legend who has given half of his life to the cricket and has been the pride of the nation for so long, the Board has to go by the assumptions made by the foreign coach. Ideally, the coach could have easily sorted this unrest in the team, if it was there, more diplomatically and amicably. Also, I am not sure whether one can reduce somebody’s salary for a little bit of non-performance. And not that it will make them work harder. At the most, it could have been frozen. When you pamper a child with too many lollypops and chocolates, he or she is surely going to get spoiled. Is the Board working as an autonomous body with a corporate structure? If yes, how come they are not registered under the Company Act? How come there are more honourary officials than paid professionals at the higher levels of the management? Even Mr Ratan Tata doesn’t do charity in keeping the Tatas’ flag fluttering around the world. But he is doing it with all the passion and love for his conglomerate, culminating into the recognition of India as a force to reckon with. Mind you, he has a fully professional support-staff. So what happened to the corporatisation of the Board?Finally, the Board has realised that this is a team game and all these gradation systems were no good to get a well-knit unit. One would recall a time when there was no gradation and even the cash prizes were shared equally by all. And how can the Board curb earnings of the players who are certainly not their employees? It is going to create lots of legal complications.It is probably the first time in the history of Indian cricket that the Board has instructed the selection committee to continue with Rahul Dravid and include more youngsters in the team. Though I am also of the view that Rahul must continue, as regards youngsters, are they anywhere close to the talent, commitment and the dedication displayed by the seniors? Anyway, the selectors should be more careful. Bangladesh are minnows no more. And what about offering a consultant’s post to Greg Chappell at the National Cricket Academy, despite the fact that he took the Indian team backwards after promising the moon? He could have been shown the door, the Australian way. One thing good about this temporary disaster is that it got a progressive and dynamic Indian coach in Ravi Shashtri, as well as Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh who are totally devoted to the game in their known spheres.
