The Hindu : Sport : Performance-based payment structure is the need of the hour

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Wednesday, Mar 28, 2007
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Performance-based payment structure is the need of the hour

Makarand Waingankar

TASK CUT OUT: The Indian players will have to stay focused to change the fortunes of the team. — PHOTO: AP

No country other than India has cricket lovers so overwhelmingly outnumbering the knowledgeable, and when the hype crosses the limit, the risk of the knowledgeable throwing in their lot with the hysterical fans is far more when India loses. In a knee-jerk emotional reaction, regular commoners lose rationality, perspective and sense and we get to watch vandalism and harsh criticism. This has become such a routine spectacle that its occurrence — effigy-burning, etc — after India's loss against Sri Lanka was resignedly expected.

To Indians, any international win is always an explosion. Now on we will not even dream of beating a small country like Bermuda. Looking at the performances of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa before the World Cup, we were not expected to shake the world but we weren't expecting it to be shaken by Bangladesh either. For a team which has more experienced players than any other in the world, to sit and wait for the outcome of the Bangladesh-Bermuda match is an embarrassment.

Wrong priority

Where did we go wrong? The BCCI did all that it could to put our paper tigers in a comfort zone. But for our tigers, spending more time in front of the cameras for the endorsement-shoots became a priority rather than being in front of the stumps. One of the cricketing maxims is the need to stay focused for one to succeed in the game. Focus they did, but not on the game. To them, signing more endorsements before the World Cup was the priority.

And while doing so, they even defied the board's written directive to go for a shoot of a company that had signed a contract with the board. The player-agent combination in Indian cricket is so strong that the board too finds it difficult to break it. Hopefully, it will be crushed after this early ouster from the World Cup.

The Indian paper tigers back themselves with their wealth of international experience in terms of figures, and the country was made to believe that no other country could match that experience. As one of the cricketers — in a meeting with the board — said, had it not been for them, the board wouldn't be in the position that it is today. That assertion was definitely true. But cricketers with inflated egos must also understand that no sponsor is in the market to run their kitchens if they fail to deliver.

In such a scenario, why blame Chappell? He did what best he could. If he is blamed for the exclusions of certain individuals, the captain and the five selectors are equally to be blamed. Chappell worked on a process diligently, but to make that process effective was the responsibility of the players. Chappell wasn't expected to bat for India. To blame him for the defeat is nothing but an overreaction. If the players had shared the coach's dedication to the job instead of concentrating on their endorsement-shoots, blaming the coach for the players' lack of performance would be justified.

And when the board has been following the Australian pattern with the coaching course and getting coaches and support staff from Australia, why aren't they following their payment structure? The Australian payment structure even at the state level affords good security to a cricketer if he is performing.

Committee

The BCCI is most likely to appoint a fact-finding committee to decide the further course of action. There is nothing wrong with our cricket structure as it gives a lot of opportunities to cricketers to perform. All that one has to do is get the players under the umbrella of the board and not allow their agents to run their cricketing life.

The lure of big bucks has been the sole reason for the downfall of Indian cricketers. Performance-based payment structure — and not past glory and experience — should be the only criterion if Indian cricket has to regain its lost glory.

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