Has BCCI gone too far?

By Roy
April 8 2007

BCCI, a ragtag and bobtail group of self-serving individuals has come up with a panacea that will cure all the ills ailing Indian cricket: throw the baby out with the bath water.

Suddenly, the seniors are the cause of all ills that are facing Indian cricket -- not an ill-managed board, not a coach who played divide and rule and not even a system that fails to throw up new talent.

First of all the coach who took Indian cricket back years was allowed an honourable exit. Instead of firing him from his job the day India exited ignominiously from the World Cup, he was allowed to go out on his own terms. And what's more, after a slick presentation to the gullible members of the Board he has been allowed to continue on as NCA director.

Any number of presentations cannot mask the pitiable results that Chappell produced. Unfortunately, such wisdom is yet to dawn on the mandarins in BCCI.

The drastic action on the issue of player contracts and endorsements could not have been more ill-conceived or ill-timed. When a parallel cricket league is set to take off, the last thing the board would want is to antagonize its star players, not to mention the legal quagmire they are walking into. And if indeed the board wants to go ahead, will the filthy rich members of Board take up some of the blame and yield some of their wealth?

The buzzword now is to blood more juniors. But where are the brilliant juniors? How many more chances do players like Raina and RP Singh need? They failed miserably on the big stage, yet for some strange reason the outgoing coach considers them as the furture of Indian cricket. Honestly the junior cupboard is threadbare with no one in sight to replace the redoubtable Tendulkars, Gangulys, Zaheer Khans and Agarkars.

The system has failed miserably to produce the next generation of Indian cricketers. Some of the measures being taken, like doing away with zone-based selectors and laying sporting pitches are nothing new. The lay follower of cricket has been harping on these issues on various fora for ages. If only the BCCI had taken notice of these issues, instead of focussing all their energies on ousting their rivals and raking in the moolah.

Now they are professing action to cleanse the system. But by wielding the axe on a convenient target -- the very players who bring in the revenues -- BCCI has gone too far.