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Hope change will cleanse the sport

After a long time I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

Hope change will cleanse the sport

Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi hopes that Ajay Shirke and Anurag Thakur will clean up Indian cricket. pti



By bishan singh bedi

After a long time I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel. With Anurag Thakur becoming the second-youngest president of BCCI, I hope the adage ‘if age could, time would’ will turn out to be true. I would implore Anurag to take this opportunity with both hands and cleanse BCCI’s affiliated units. Like termite, certain self-seeking people have eaten into the vitals of the game and need to be purged.

Cricket has been deluged with problems which have not been addressed over the years. Overage fraud is a major issue that has plagued the game. Older boys have repeatedly elbowed out young and talented cricketers in their own age groups. Years ago, as the J&K coach, I had provided proof of the Delhi captain, Manjot Kalra, being overage. Subsequently, an FIR was filed against 24 boys in Delhi, yet many of them are still playing in the lower age groups. Rahul Dravid has lashed out at this problem. BCCI should come down hard on this menace without further delay.

Selections at all levels need to be addressed. In states, it is very easy to manipulate the selection process — just get a selectors’ group and hand over the ‘selected’ team to them for the ritual stamp of approval. Who will play in the final XI is also determined likewise.

The coach and manager have to carry out the ‘executive’ orders. Sadly, influence and pressure have come to play an overwhelming role in the selection of teams. Officials who collect proxies for elections in state associations have a big say in selection. Very often, talented boys either move to other states or simply quit cricket.

Then, young cricketers are being given only yearly contracts and stipends of Rs 5000 per month by PSUs whereas older cricketers are retaining their jobs and are getting promotions with PSUs, and also playing/working for BCCI and IPL franchisees. All this while, talented youngsters are searching for jobs, which no PSU is willing to provide.

IPL spelling doom

BCCI needs to get the cricket balance right. Too much of indulgence in the IPL is spelling doom for Indian cricket. World Wrestling Entertainment-like contests are not really good for the health of Indian cricket.

Have we not seen the fickleness of IPL in the last few years? Players who got selected on the basis of one season’s pyrotechnics are nowhere to be seen after one season. In fact, two boys who were selected with much fanfare only last season are cooling their heels with their own franchisees this season. Selections on the basis of IPL performances must stop.

DDCA mess

There is a lesson to be learnt from the way Justice Mukul Mudgal has steered the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) during the last few months. A moribund organisation which has been mismanaged and looted by some office-bearers over the years has been course-corrected by Justice Mudgal.

The India-South Africa Test match was witnessed by 8000 schoolchildren for free, and they were also given free lunch and water. The match still produced a profit of Rs 3 crore for DDCA, while 55 previous matches had all produced huge losses!

Organising the World Cup 2011 games in Delhi caused a loss of Rs 69 lakh despite BCCI giving Rs 3 crore for each match. For this year’s T20 World Cup, BCCI gave only Rs 1.5 crore per match, and yet DDCA earned Rs 5 crore as profit. Just imagine the loot that goes on in the name of organising matches.

New secretary

Ajay Shirke is a welcome addition to BCCI. In fact, he and Sanjay Jagdale were the only state officials who had the guts to resign when Srinivasan was running riot in BCCI. IPL spot-fixing and betting would have been nipped in the bud if 25-odd members had not blindly supported Srinivasan and his son-in-law.

Now there’s an opportunity. With the Supreme Court verdict on the BCCI clean-up process likely to come soon, BCCI needs to set its house in order. I wholeheartedly agree with the Special Bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice FMI Kalifullah’s view on the ‘indispensability’ of old and ragged politicians and administrators in BCCI: “The cemeteries all over the world are full of people who were once considered to be indispensable.”

My final advice to Anurag is that the game of cricket (as indeed all other sports) requires a servant, not a boss. Please serve the game and do not try to boss over it. There will be enough gratitude for honest work. I wish the new team all the best.

The writer is a former India skipper

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