Misfits like Pawar are ruining Indian cricket
Mar 28, 2007 - 8:31:00 AM
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The ICC's ranking system is flawed and needs a revamp. Like tennis, where greater value is given to the performances in bigger events like Grand Slam and Master Series, Cricket World Cup and Champions Trophy tournaments should carry more weight than the proliferating and money-minting ODIs. The recognition to wins and losses, runs and wickets should also be on the basis of an equal number of matches played home and away. This should not be also disproportionate against lower ranked teams, making easier the manipulation of rankings by financial inducements provided by wealthy boards. This is precisely what the BCCI of Dalmiya and Pawar have been doing and taking the Indian public for a ride.
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By Ashis Ray,
[RxPG] Sharad Pawar's statement about creating two Indian teams - are struggling to stitch together even one respectable side!) is more pathetic than the performance of the Indians in the World Cup. This is the fundamental problem, more serious than the on-field failings of the cricketers and indirectly the cause of the latter. Misfits like Pawar have been governing Indian cricket for decades. They don't have a clue; and are, moreover, distressing communicators.
Pawar has summoned a meeting of former India captains on April 6 to discuss India's disastrous showing. This is not by itself a bad idea. But how many of the erstwhile skippers will have the courage to speak their minds and tell the board on their faces that they are a part of the problem, and a major one, not the solution. They need to be conveyed in no uncertain terms that a handover to professional management intertwined by expertise from honest, lucid and knowledgeable cricketers is imperative; and that this has to happen within a time bound period.
The problem is a stinking rich BCCI are in a position to extend handsome favours. By a vicious process of manoeuvring - which most cricketers are bewildered by - non-cricketers, unqualified for management are the ones in power. Past players of stature eat out of their hands, even crawl before them for they can derive attractive benefits from doing so. People with personality and self-respect, who don't play ball, don't grovel are ignored, some times at the cost of Indian cricket.
It is no great shakes to be invited by such worthless elements for a conference. It is, however, a matter of national importance for eminent, potentially insightful men who have been India's helmsmen to extricate their country from the cricketing mess it finds itself in. But they will be failing in their duties if they restricted themselves to policy and tactics connected with the national team and avoided addressing the thorny issue of the game's governance.
There is, palpably, a great temptation to sack Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid. Admittedly, they bear responsibility, although the players collectively let them down. Before the World Cup, Sachin Tendulkar had already been positioned to succeed Dravid in the event of India's failure in the World Cup. This has happened more cataclysmically than envisaged. Perhaps, an older and wiser Tendulkar will be more successful than in his earlier term. But it's still a shot in the dark. The more difficult decision is a choice of coach, for no one can help cricketers who habitually freeze on the big stage.
In 2005, the BCCI under Jagmohan Dalmiya, hastily embarked on hosting one-day international series to improve India's rankings and thereby avert having to qualify for last year's Champions Trophy, which they were hosting. The plan succeeded, but the home successes failed to further India's cause in the tournament itself, just as much as the victories over the West Indies and Sri Lanka in January and February last respectively, were a false and misleading indication of India's capabilities in the World Cup.
The ICC's ranking system is flawed and needs a revamp. Like tennis, where greater value is given to the performances in bigger events like Grand Slam and Master Series, Cricket World Cup and Champions Trophy tournaments should carry more weight than the proliferating and money-minting ODIs. The recognition to wins and losses, runs and wickets should also be on the basis of an equal number of matches played home and away. This should not be also disproportionate against lower ranked teams, making easier the manipulation of rankings by financial inducements provided by wealthy boards. This is precisely what the BCCI of Dalmiya and Pawar have been doing and taking the Indian public for a ride.
-, which can be bought online on www.ians.in)
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