(pic: courtesy --Getty Images)
Vikram Vishal
(Chief Sports Editor)
Wo betide, you dare not take your BOSS for granted. You have no right to squander my “hard earned” funds. You all frittered away my money and efforts put in for the World Cup. Now, pay for it.
Is this the message the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) trying to convey to the Men in Blue by scraping the contract system and limiting their other sources of income?
Well, if seen closely, this is what the mirror on the wall reflects. For, it’s hard to believe that the contract system and players’ endorsements led to India’s Cup debacle.
Ironically, the obvious indication that money is the root cause of Indian cricket’s poor show in the recent past has come from the world’s richest cricket body. This is a revenue-spinning organisation that has mastered the art of amassing wealth from virtually nothing.
By putting a cap on players’ match fees and disbanding the grading system-- a move that will now see Sachin Tendulkar and a debutant ‘Chironjeelal’ on the same podium-- it is more than apparent that the ‘owner’ of Indian cricket has engaged itself in a battle with the ‘mafia’.
Most of the “revolutionary” decisions taken in the glass house in the backdrop of the Wankhede are undoubtedly intended to give the senior pros of Indian cricket a nasty reminder-- “Boys, I’m the boss. Don’t try to make inroads into my system”.
But does the Boss care to explain if money has imprisoned our cricketers’ mind, then how come the Indian hockey, where the big bucks are nowhere in the frame, has failed to retain its magic?
Why the soccer fans in India are more of “European soccer” fans, who can name the whole team of Real Madrid, Man U or Inter Milan, but will laugh it off when asked to list even five footballers playing for their own country?
Make no mistake, it’s because performance does not come with money, but money comes with performance.
And, it would be a blunder if we think the BCCI Pvt. Ltd believes the other way round. It can never. The owners of cricket in our country are the shrewdest people around. At least they are smart enough to brainwash the fans who don’t see cricket beyond cricketers.
For the fans, the board has done all that needed to be in order to improve the standard of the game.
Henceforth, Indian cricket will be minus graded contracts; same retainership for all having Indian cap; slashed match fee; only the skipper interacting with the media; fitness test before every series; more than one coach; no more zone-based selection; paid selectors on fulltime basis; and new wickets and system at domestic level.
Certainly, it does generate the ‘feel good’ feeling. But not for long. The unprecedented ‘rulings’ miss one BIG thing-- the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Who said no one in this world is perfect? Hadn’t the person heard of the BCCI?
The board blatantly absolving it from cricket’s on-field failures has never been a surprise. But if it finds fair enough reasons to serve probably the country’s finest ever cricketer Sachin with a notice and keep a check on players’ accounts, isn’t a high time for some modifications in the board as well?
It wants “its players” to do an Australia. But when it comes to discipline and professionalism for itself, the board appears to be rather happy to do a Zimbabwe.
The very day the board decides that only captain will be allowed to speak or write for media, it forgets to mention who would interact with the fourth estate on behalf of the board.
Much to the surprise of many, the media briefing about a meeting-- that caught the imagination of all and probably was the most talked about in the history of Indian cricket-- was made by the Treasurer of the BCCI.
Who will issue a notice to them for not sending the Secretary or appointing a media manager to do that job?
Who will issue a notice to them for locking horns with the ICC every time the latter comes out with marketing policies for its tournaments?
Who will issue a notice to them for having a politician and not a paid fulltime CEO at the helm of affairs?
Who will issue a notice to them for making the broadcasters airing Indian matches bear loses due to its vague telecast rights?
Who will issue a notice to them for always saving their skin at the cost of players, captains, coaches and selectors?
Probably no one, as they are above the law of cricket. A law-- made by the BCCI and made for the BCCI, giving them the ‘exclusive right’ to grab the credit (besides of course all the money) for all “good things” and penalise others for any ‘untoward’ episode.
