It’s just a game

The refrain that India is a nation of a billion cricket selectors is clearly an exaggeration. But, by Friday’s performance on Raisina Hill, its cricketers have roughly 800 advisors too many. In the opening week of the winter session of Parliament, MPs chose to make a national issue of the India XI’s lean patch, and held forth on ways and means of guillotining Greg Chappell for his abysmal record as the national coach. On cue, Sharad Pawar, veteran member of Lok Sabha and president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, rushed in a comment that he’d be sending off Chairman of Selectors Dilip Vengsarkar to South Africa. Vengsarkar, besides sorting out the issue of contracts, will also convey the anguish of ‘countrymen’ over the team’s performance.

This is not done. Parliament is not the arena for members to assume patriotic pretensions in dwelling on what is after all an individual pursuit. Cricket can be enthralling, it is often frustrating — MPs are welcome to spend their leisure hours celebrating or berating the team, as they see fit. It is, however, not part of their remit as elected representatives. And they certainly cannot use the presence of Pawar in the House to interrogate him. He is there as an MP, leader of a political party and minister. He does not enter Parliament House in his capacity as BCCI president. And his regular duties to Parliament are, really, more important.

This is something Pawar has not quite internalised. It is his right to contest for the post of BCCI chief, and the fact of his being in government or Parliament cannot be a disqualification. But just as he cannot be forced to be answerable on the affairs of Indian cricket in Parliament, he must not use that office to pacify fellow MPs. He must tell MPs to keep a sense of proportion. It would also serve as a good signal to ‘countrymen’ who are taking protests to the streets. Get real, folks, it’s just a game.