The Hindu : Sport : Time BCCI put its house in order

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Saturday, Aug 25, 2007
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Time BCCI put its house in order

The players signing for ICL include has-beens eager for another pay day

Trouble with administrators is that they think the game belongs to them, writes
Peter Roebuck

— Photo: AFP

DETRIMENTAL: The willingness of promising domestic players to sign up for the ICL could be far more damaging to Indian cricket.

Indian cricket has only itself to blame for the uprising underway in its ranks. Almost without exception, revolutions are caused by torpidity in high places. Rulers who take care of their people are not pushed from office. Nor do they face rebellious forces ready to take to the field. Indian cricket has taken too little care of spectators and players.

Too often it has been waylaid by internal struggles involving politicians and businessmen. None of those seeking high positions in the game has produced a manifesto directed at improving the game, or the lot of supporters.

Failed to invest

Rich almost beyond measure, fat on television money, the BCCI has failed to invest in the game. Most particularly it has omitted to uplift players, especially those one rung below the highest level. Accordingly local cricketers follow a perilous course, desperate to catch the selectors’ eye. It could not last. Modern players come from all sections of society, from Bihar and Orissa, from gymkhana and back street. Players of this sort cannot be left to their own devices. Support is needed to keep them within the camp. Instead India has continued on its old path.

Disgruntlement has been the inevitable result. It was only a matter of time before an entrepreneur stepped into the breach. Now, suddenly, the BCCI is waking up and issuing all kinds of threats. It is too early for that. Until the ICL releases its full list and its programme the extent of the conflict will not be known. Moreover the BCCI might not prevail before the courts.

It is hard to believe that the doctrine of restraint of trade will not protect the players, as it did in the costly and foolish case fought by the Establishment in the English courts at the start of the Packer rebellion in 1977.

The trouble with cricket administrators is that they think the game belongs to them. Although they may be the worst offenders, it is not merely an Indian trait. Addressing the increasingly intrusive topic of intellectual property, an Australian official recently talked about the Board’s need to protect “our game”. It was a significant slip. In fact they are merely custodians.

BCCI should listen

Rather than isolating and punishing ICL players, the BCCI ought to be listening to them better to understand their grievances. It is no small thing for a cricketer to turn his back on tradition and in most cases it will not have been lightly done. Dreams are not so easily abandoned.

Family and friends are not easily placated. The World Series uprising caused considerable distress, as longstanding relationships were broken.

By all accounts the players signing for ICL include has-beens eager for another pay day (not that money is ever the only consideration — the allure of the spotlight is as strong as any drug) and frustrated internationals cast aside by their own countries. The usual list of opportunists eager to cash in on the Indian boom can be found amongst the organisers.

As much was to be expected. Far more damaging to Indian cricket has been the willingness of promising domestic players to throw their hats into the ring. Otherwise ICL could have been brushed aside. If the BCCI is wise it will welcome the challenge and set about putting its house in order.

After all the idea of a full scale Twenty/20 competition is not bad. But then the dispute is not entirely a cricketing matter. Ultimately it all comes down to television contracts and power games. For too long, bats and balls have taken a back seat.

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