BCCI - Bitter Capsule Choking India

The title might sound a tad harsh, but for an ardent cricket follower, it unfolds a sea of emotions and the waves of gall dampen the foot and moisten the eyes seeing the grand Indian cricket ship sink in the waters of money, bucks, glitz and glamour. The captains on-BOARD turning oblivious to the storm waters, or rather causing the storms to submerge the submarine that has on board the faith, the hopes, and the livelihood of a billion, is just discerning.

Over the years, India has usurped other cricketing pigeon-holes and managed to monopolize the sport with the viewership pie-chart being capitalized by this nation. The marketing gurus pounced on this fever, the money associated with the game sky-rocketed and the rest as they say is history.

It is hard to resist oneself from drawing parallels between the UN-US and the ICC-BCCI. The famous quote can be tweaked to fit into today’s cricketing context – “When India sneezes, the rest of the world catches cold”. The BCCI has managed to arm-twist every other cricketing board around the globe, and the success of IPL or rather the inefficacy of the Bangladesh Premier League, Sri Lankan Premier League or even the Big Bash T20 down-under is testimony to that.

Given the big-brother stature of the BCCI, as the conventional human brain would anticipate, Indian cricket galloped up the ranks and the numero uno status was reached, only to fall flat, breaking its nose. The postmortem of the downfall is like opening a Pandora’s box.

Coming to the issue, with the England home tour hardly a month away and the significance of the tour reaching great heights after the ignominy of the whitewash in the away tour, more than half the Test team is away in South Africa playing the Champions League T20, representing their respective franchisee in dead rubbers.

With the Duleep trophy fixtures on the cards, the most compatible solution in the interests of the players and the team was for the players to play the Duleep trophy. From Sehwag to Dhoni, the entire batting line-up sans Kohli is totally out of form. The Duleep trophy would given them the much needed match practice and a taste of the longer format especially after the T20 World Cup. Shifting gears between the formats has unarguably been tough and featuring in the Duleep trophy would have definitely acted as a lubricant and eased out things.

From the injury perspective, scientific data now suggests that transition from the shorter format to the longer format bolsters the injury chances of fast bowlers. Injury to the strike-bowlers before a key series isn’t alien to India and has happened a quite a few times in the past. With the demanding nature of the CL T20, injuries are just inevitable. There were reports of Sehwag being unfit and later declared match fit. This might just be the alarm bells of the injury daemons that might surface before the significant tour. To avert such talks that would do its rounds in the media circle, the players might as well carry on with the injuries that would aggravate it and lead to career-threatening ones that would well abate their careers. This isn’t fiction, as the above has happened in the past with a leaked medical dozier unveiling it.

Fatigue has been an issue that has inhibited performance, by MS Dhoni‘s own words, and the CL T20 by all means would tire the players traversing the diameter of South Africa. The scheduling of the FTP has always drawn censure, and the BCCI letting its players be a part of the tourney is downright ignorance and insolence.

Sachin Tendulkar affording to miss ‘quality time with children’ and go on to play the CL raises a few eyebrows. Having missed a sleuth of ODI series citing fitness and age, the CL was ought to be missed and he should have been out there playing the Duleep Trophy instead. The T20 format is by no means going to help him circumspect his technique or the slowing reflexes.

Cricket Australia, in a benevolent gesture, recalled Shane Watson from the CL. Though the modus operandi might have drawn flak, the move was nevertheless made in the interests of the team and the player concerned. The BCCI must draw a leaf out of the books of such boards and comply to serve Indian cricket in its behest.

Due to the unavailability of key players, the practice match against the visiting English side is reported to be played by rookies such as the U-19 players. A BCCI official has gone on record saying that they didn’t want to give the English side a strong team for the practice fixture. Such myopic views of the BCCI have acted as a deterrent in many aspects. Players such as Rohit Sharma need to test the waters and the practice game against England would have acquainted him with the English bowlers. If only the CL T20 wasn’t scheduled before the start of the season, the Duleep Trophy could have as well been preponed and such players would be available for the practice game. It is ridiculous that the richest board falls short of putting forth a strong team for the practice game against visiting sides.

Why does such hindsight evade the BCCI?

The IPL hasn’t been as lucrative to the franchise owners as it is been to the players or the board. The break-even itself hasn’t been achieved by most of the franchise owners. For it to keep the cash registers ringing, it needs to send its teams to tourneys outside India as it can lap up the entire chunk of the sponsorships then. Hence, the franchises are bent upon being a part of the tourney. Without the IPL teams, the TRP ratings and the sponsorships would stagnate and the tourney would be a bigger failure than it is currently. Hence the organizers are in dire need of India teams, so the cap on the number of Indian teams has been relaxed and you see four teams battling. The players, in return, would be able to make some big bucks and are therefore lured to be a part of the tournament. Such lures and temptations have won over the Board and for a helpless fan, it is discerning to see the team giving in to such blandishments.

Indian cricket has been hit hard by the arrogance and smugness of the the board. The BCCI has been in pursuit of financial glorification rather than uplifting the sport. The glamour and glitz do form an integral part of the sport, but the sport can persist only when the team keeps winning. Hockey vanished due to the continual thwarting it received and we fear cricket might well vanish into the blue due to the indifferent view of the Board. If hockey had cricket that took over it reigns, football isn’t far from cricket. Until and unless the BCCI uses its financial strengths in the interests of the sport, we will smell the daemons. The players are under constant scrutiny and scanner, but the board has had the uncanny knack of evading the axe. The shortcomings of BCCI have been conveniently pushed under the carpet by the bosses.

The Board of Cricket Control in India is a Bitter capsule Choking India at the moment. The sinking ship needs to be maneuvered and anchored by cricket followers than economists.

- By an angry cricket fan.