Why is BCCI's way of functioning so obscene?

by A Bisht





Why's it that every time BCCI makes a major announcement or takes an important decision it's stoned and ridiculed? Or in other words why does BCCI attract so much malice?

Take for instance, the issue of foreign Boards demanding a share of the IPL trove. Their plea being, it's their stars and players who are making the format popular. England has been contracting foreign players from time immemorial to play in its domestic circuit. Is it sharing its money with the participating players' respective boards? Struggling Boards like Cricket Sri Lanka who don’t even have enough money to pay their contracted players are feigning loss of revenue to IPL. Countries from where retired and non-performing players formed the bulk of incoming players are complaining of serious cricket-drain.

And the simple question is why?

Another example -

It's not the BCCI which initiated the system of phasing out senior players. In recent past it's Cricket Australia which set the tone. Other boards including India only embarked on this path created by CA.

But when BCCI made its intent clear of phasing out the seniors by unceremoniously dropping Ganguly; it's CA which shouted most loudly.

If players like Steve Waugh and Glenn McGrath were not so indispensable for Australian Cricket; why will Ganguly or for that matter Dravid, VVS or even Tendulkar be so indispensable for India?

But it's not only the other boards who questioned this move; Indian media till yesterday was clutching at the BCCI's throat.

Again the question is…why?

And finally some talk about selections.

In any form of sport team selections is one of the most controversial decisions. No amount of transparency and good intentions can make all sections happy. Still all over the world there are sports bodies that get away with this with minimum controversy and nuisance. But not BCCI; no matter how professionally they do the selections they are blamed, abused and trashed.

And the only question is why?

No doubt, BCCI left no stone unturned to make IPL an overwhelming success. T20 tournaments had been organized even before IPL; but it's the astuteness of the BCCI which made the tournament distinct and special. All said; the brilliance of BCCI ends there.

After that IPL proved to be vulgar display of money and power. The celebrity team owners were unleashed to do what they pleased – Shahrukh Khan jumped more than the cheerleaders, he sat at the players’ dugout; Priety Zinta embraced and kissed all and spared none. A nation like India which believes that the whole world is one big family was blamed for being a racist when Mohali team owners were blamed for barring a non-white cheer leader to be a part of the cheer leading group. The same team owners blamed the police of stealing their liquor and T-shirts. On the ground, Harbhajan Singh slapped Sreesanth as a post match greeting; Farukh Engineer found the greeting too novel; banned him for the rest of the IPL; but only after Bhajji held hands with Sree, Farrukh and Modi for the curious Media; the gesture in particular appeared as if the trio were celebrating Harbhajan Singh's felicitation.

All this happened when Modi, the IPL chairman, stared at wrong places.

No wonder the whole world perceived IPL as a money spinner and alerted their antennas.

Phasing out aged players makes way for younger lot; it also helps to maintain team dynamics. Many countries have successfully shown the door to their legends. But again the BCCI chose to phase out its seniors in an arbitrary manner. Different standards were adopted for different players. Players with ditto performance were treated differently.

In short, some are ignored shamelessly; while others are defended shamelessly.

Coming to selections; no selection can appease all. No amount of caution can deter the backlash. But leaking the important emails and decisions to media and having dozens of official spokespersons definitely increases the intensity of this backlash.

Before concluding, why BCCI can't address the media at a designated place; why Niranjan Shah or some other Board person makes important announcements in corridors, lobbies and porches?

And why can't a person who turns up well; and speaks well address the media in a conference room rather than Niranjan Shah shouldering this responsibility wearing tacky big collared flower motif majorly unbuttoned shirt…

Has it anything to do with BCCI's way of functioning?

Is BCCI's way of functioning obscene?

To an extent it seems it is. Is it?