We know about the fact that the BCCI is by far the richest and the most powerful cricket body in the world. We also know that there is a crisis of leadership that has resulted in mismanagement and poor decision making in recent times. There is also the charge that this mismanagement is at least partly responsible for the recent loss of the Indian team in the World Cup semifinal. For many, the issuance of a notice to India’s former player Rahul Dravid was incontrovertible proof that things are going very wrong in Indian cricket.
Member of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association, one Sanjay Gupta made a complaint, based on which the BCCI addressed a notice to Rahul Dravid, alleging a conflict of interest. Dravid is currently the Director of the NCA (National Cricket Academy) and is also the vice-president of India Cements, which owns the IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings. According to the notice, this amounts to a conflict of interest. The notice was issued by the BCCI’s ethics officer.
Former skipper Saurav Ganguly tweeted his support for Dravid and dismissed the charge of conflict of interest as nothing but an attempt to gain publicity. Many other players and/or their family members have also been charged with some or other instance of conflict of interest in recent times. This, according to Ganguly, has become a ‘new fashion’ and the BCCI tends to level such charges without just cause. When he said “God help Indian cricket,” this seems to echo the concern that many have expressed about the running of Indian cricket in general and the BCCI in particular, in recent times.
Ganguly has a formidable following even years after his retirement from cricket and his word carries a lot of weight. There are many who support him not just because they are fans of his cricket but also because Ganguly is known to say it like it is. In reply to his tweet, commentators pointed out the incongruity of cricket being managed by non-cricketers. They pointed out that people far more deserving of being issued notices were in fact not being issued any notices.
Rahul Dravid is the kind of player no one speaks negatively about. Harbhajan Singh is of the view that such a notice is tantamount to an insult. There is almost universal respect and admiration for Dravid – both personally and as an outstanding player of the game. Many pointed out the irony of an ethics officer issuing a notice against someone whose own ethics are seen as being above question.
A lot of people also feel that Dravid is being made a fall guy and that the notice is little more than a diversionary tactic to distract from the real problems. There is not only the problem of day to day running of the board, but also issues about team selection and the overarching problem of finding a replacement for coach Ravi Shastri.
Another recent issue that cast the spotlight on mismanagement of the BCCI was the Prithvi Shaw doping scandal. BCCI came under fire for botching up the process of investigation by insisting upon handling the doping analysis as well as the sanctions by itself, without involving independent agencies. The fact that Shaw’s six-month ban was back-dated to March 2019 in spite of the fact that he was playing IPL till May, raises many more questions than it answers. The lack of a robust mechanism for dope testing in Indian cricket is, therefore, a significant issue that remains to be addressed.
Apart from all this, there have been rumours about in-fighting among players and charges of the captain and coach having unchecked power over the team. There is the strong perception that Indian cricket has suffered as a result of the constant and public bickering between former player Diana Eduljee and former IAS officer and interim chief of BCCI Vinod Rai. Cricket cannot be run by judges feel people and this what the Lodha Committee has essentially done. The perception is that decision making has become slow and arbitrary and that those without in-depth knowledge of cricket are making cricketing decisions; all of which is impacting Indian cricket negatively.
India takes on the West Indies in the first of three ODIs today at Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago today. Doubtless, there will be more conjecture about the problems and the mismanagement in Indian cricket. And if by chance, India manages to lose, there will be a lot of baying for blood and a call for heads to roll.
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