BOARD OF CLOWNS AND CROOKS INC . Review on BCCI India

Normally I never post a review immediately after posting another one. I take some time. But this time I had to make an exception to the rule. The provocation was the bunch of jokers who call themselves as selectors and  B.C.C.I which officially means Board of Control for Cricket India. And I believe its high time that organization is renamed as BOARD OF CLOWNS AND CROOKS INC.

Now let me make two things very clear, I am not a Bengali nor am I a die hard, passionate supporter of Saurav Ganguly . Far from it, in a recent review on MS, I was bitterly critical of his spat with Greg Chappel. But what happened on Dec 14, 2005 is simply unpardonable and unacceptable. The entire episode reeks of  dirty politicking which has been the bane of Indian cricket.

Not even his worst critics, would disagree with the fact that Ganguly provided a strong leadership for India and a measure of respectability for Indian cricket. He is one of India’s most successful captains, and please don’t forget the fact that it was under his captaincy that India won a Test and ODI series in Pakistan for the first time in it’s entire cricket history. India was the only team which could give the Aussie juggernaut a tough fight in Test series under Saurav’s captaincy.

But Saurav’s captaincy goes beyond mere statistics of  runs scored, tests won and tests lost. Dada was one of the few players who did not promote a regional Kolkata lobby . He was the one who backed some of the best players Dravid , Laxman , Zaheer, Yuvraj and Kaif to name a few. Today all of us are talking about Team India but wasn’t it  Dada who came up with the Team India idea during World Cup 2003. Much as I admire Sachin Tendulkar I could never condone the fact the way he tried to promote his Mumbai buddies during his tenure as captaincy. Also again Saurav took over as captain when Tendulkar stepped down as captain, and Indian cricket was ripped by the match fixing scandal. The part Dada played in restoring the confidence in the Indian cricket team can never be under estimated.

Yes he committed a major blunder going public over his differences with Greg Chappell and I pointed out this also in my review. That was not to be condoned. Nor could I condone the way he tried to keep out Kumble from the team. But he was punished for that by getting axed from the one day squad against Sri Lanka. And he proved himself in domestic cricket with some good performances. Even the public felt he had been punished enough, and were willing to see him back. And this is where BCCI showed us why they are regarded as a BUNCH OF JOKERS. In fact jokers is a very polite term for them.

Now the very first issue is related to Dada’s inclusion in Test team. Kiran More wanted him out, but the majority of selectors wanted him back in Test team. So he was bought back as a “bowling all rounder”. Now that got to be one of the funniest statements I have heard in my life. Dada is a batsman who can bowl a bit, by no stretch of imagination is he a frntline bowler at all. If Dada is a bowling all rounder, then I guess Dravid must be a “wicket keeper all rounder” and  Sehwag a “frntline pace bowler”. Bizzare right, but that’s how the BCCI is. In the mean time Dalmiya’s protégé loses the election, Sharad Pawar becomes the new president of BCCI. Sharad Pawar promises transparency **, but its just like * angrez gaye , angrezi chod ke *. So all the 3 selectors who backed Ganguly are removed, and the causes are indeed very * transparent *. I guess this is Sharad Pawar’s version of transparency.

But what happened on Dec 14, 2005 was something which not even the harshest critic of BCCI and the selectors would have ever expected. India won the 2nd Test at Delhi by 188 runs and when the nation was rejoicing, the selectors drop the bomb shell, GANGULY DROPPED FROM TEST TEAM. When I first saw this news item, I thought this must be some sick joke or prank. But unfortunately it was just true. Now on what basis was Ganguly dropped. If it’s performance basis, then I must say the selectors need to understand what performance in a Test match is about. Dada scored 40 and 39 in the Test match. Not too bad scores, but more than the scores it’s the importance of those two. In first innings he was involved in an important partnership with Sachin, and most important in the second innings he anchored the innings and made sure that the first innings collapse was not repeated. He partnered Yuvraj in a critical moment and by the time he left India were already in a safe position from where they couldn’t lose the match. Test matches is not just about huge scores, its also about those vital partnerships which  build an innings. Dada played a major role in two vital partnerships and if  selectors think this performance is not good enough, I think its high times they should get their brains( doubt if  they have any) checked. So since they couldn’t find excuse of performance, if that was the criteria Gautam Gambhir should be the first to get the boot, More comes up with a theory of wanting to have more youth in the side. If that was the case, why take Dada at all in the Test side, they could have told him, his time was up and that would have been the end. Total bungling here, you take some one on a vague basis and you give an even more vague reason for dropping him.

And who do they pick for the match Wasim Jaffer, who hasn’t had such a great record in the few tests he played. The best thing to be done would have been to inform Dada that his time was up and Ahmedabad was the last Test he would play. And that would have been a graceful exit. Whatever be his faults, this is no way to treat a player who has given a lot to India. We make a mess when selecting some one, and we make a mess when we need to drop some one- that seems to be the motto of  the BOARD OF CLOWNS AND CROOKS INC. But is it any surprising, the board is run by guys who have never held a cricket bat in their life nor even know what its like to step onto a cricket pitch. It’s a miracle that with such an incompetent board, we have managed to actually do well enough. I had spoken of Dada’s good performance in Delhi Test being overlooked. But to rate a performance as good or bad, you can only know it if you played Test cricket. Of the present selection board, except Kiran More, none of the others have even played a decent Ranji match, so how the hell would they know about your performance in Test or even ODI’s.

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