Where there’s a will there’s always a way. This is an old saying, but so true. All these years we have been hearing from BCCI officials that if players don’t play domestic cricket, they will not be considered for selection to the national team. That was only talk and nothing else, for most of the top players stayed away from Ranji, Duleep or Challenger Trophy games and BCCI did nothing but sat back meekly and the players got bolder knowing that all this talk of non-selection, if they don’t play domestic cricket was just that. Talk. Of course, players produced medical certificates but from their own doctors and not those authorized by the BCCI and these certificates were accepted without any questions, for the BCCI did not want to confront the players. Yes agreed, confrontation is ugly most times, but there are also times to call a bluff, but the BCCI never did. What was galling was that players who wanted rest from cricket did not think twice about flying long distances to shoot for commercials. Again, nothing wrong in doing commercials, for after all a player’s shelf-life is limited but when a domestic game is given the go-by to shoot for a commercial, then that’s not cricket.
The BCCI’s directive for four players to play a Ranji game before they embark on the tour to Pakistan, signifies a change from just sitting passively doing nothing for domestic cricket and being proactive and ensuring that the domestic game is given the respect it deserves. Hopefully, this directive is not Ganguly-specific but in the future apply to every player.
One can understand that some players deserve rest if they have had a hectic Test and international series of games like Irfan Pathan, who not only bowled but batted splendidly in the 12 one-day games as well as the three Tests against Sri Lanka. If anything, looking at the weather conditions in India, bowlers being rested is right but the batsmen being given time off is bound to raise eyebrows especially if they haven’t spent too much time in the middle, even if they have played all the international games. Sehwag, for example, has played in every game excepting the Delhi Test which he missed due to illness but hasn’t really stayed long enough at the crease for him to feel confident and so it makes sense for him to play as much cricket as possible.
The only problem is that the wickets that are on offer for domestic cricket are hardly conducive for batsmen and so Sehwag and Gambhir, who both played in the Ranji game last week, found they would have been better off not playing the match but having nets on a good practice pitch. It is here that BCCI needs to show the same will, as they have shown in making players play domestic cricket. For years now, pitches have been prepared to suit the home team’s strengths and that is fine so long as the pitch is not a lottery. If one goes by the scores in some of the matches, especially Delhi’s games, then it is quite obvious that the pitches prepared are sub-standard and not conducive to a fair contest between bat and ball. When sides get dismissed for less than three figures and matches get over in two days, then there’s something definitely wrong with the pitch. Remember also that the sides that played were not ordinary sides but Railways, the current Ranji champs and Delhi, so there was enough class and talent available, but still the match got over in two days, thanks to the pitch. A couple of years back at the captain’s conclave, I had proposed a penalty of points as well as monetary fines for the association that prepared a pitch unsuitable for a fair contest between batsmen and bowlers.
The BCCI did nothing about it in spite of the captains too agreeing that it was needed to check some associations from tampering the pitch. The BCCI has to ensure that there is a good match referee and if he and the umpires’ report a pitch, then straightaway the points gained should be suspended and even if the home team that prepared the pitch has lost the game, it should be penalized points as well as monetarily.
There’s a pitch committee that BCCI has and as soon as a pitch is reported, one of the members can be sent to inspect the pitch after it is cordoned off, so that there’s no watering or rolling by the home team to confuse the pitch inspector, when he comes for inspection a day or two later.The BCCI has shown that it is not willing to tolerate players who take domestic cricket for granted and pick and choose when they play and it’s a laudable move indeed.
Now just like they have shown players that they are serious about ensuring that they play domestic cricket, they should show administrators that they are serious that games are played on pitches suitable for cricket and not mine fields or dust bowls and if that means fining and penalizing an affiliate, so be it. Let it be seen that there’s the same fairness applied to both players and administrators and that there aren’t different rules for different people.
Transparency is the buzzword for BCCI and performance is what the team management swears by and recent evidence shows that the former is being applied well, transparently and the latter rather selectively. Still a foundation is being laid and that can only be good for Indian cricket. Take a bow BCCI. You have shown, you mean business not just off the field, but also on it.
Happy New Year to all the readers and hope you have a great sporting year !
