Last two weeks have been spectacular for the Indian media (read the Indian gossip media). They have had a field day with announcements following controversial interpretations. It all started with the two-day meeting in Mumbai of the BCCI officials, the team coach, team captain and the seven ex-captains. The build-up to this meeting was phenomenal with rumors running riot on Chappel being reinstated, being sacked etc. To add fuel to the fire, Sachin Tendulkar, quite uncharacteristically, lashed out at the coach for challenging the attitude of senior players. Yuvraj Singh showed his immaturity by supporting this statement on record. Both have been served notice by the BCCI for talking to the press.
Back to the BCCI meeting. All these guys agreed that there's a problem with Indian Cricket, but how do they arrest the rot? To start with, they have decided to scrap the 'experience baised contract' system for a 'performance based pay'. I do hope this will be carried through, as it has been discussed a lot of times before. Another radical decision is to cap the endorsements a player is entitled to 3 max. Quite interestingly, the media has reacted quite negatively to this rather than the players. It's the media that is creating a ruckus over this. None of the payers have commented on this, atleast on-the-record. I think this is the right direction forward. The players are there to play cricket and not to lampoon around like clowns selling toothpaste or insurance. I do remember when P Gopichand, the Indian badminton ace said no to advertising for Pepsi because he knew that the drink is not helping the sportsman. The focus needs to shift to the purpose of the player being there, thats to play cricket, than to dance on TV. We need affirmative actions like this to stem the rot that has been happening in Indian cricket. This will definitely help in the short and medium term.
But, the BCCI has not given any clear indication on how they plan to ensure a long term improvement by improving the way domestic cricket is played in India. The number of competitive games, those that go down to the wire, are hardly ever heard of in domestic cricket. While, these are the games that separate the good from the great, the wheat from the chaff. This is partly due to the talent, or lack of it, among the players and partly due to the facilities provided (including the support staff, grounds, equipments, etc). The BCCI does not seem to have a strategy to improve this.
Until the BCCI has a plan of action and sticks to it not matter what may come, I don't think there will be long term change.
Back to the BCCI meeting. All these guys agreed that there's a problem with Indian Cricket, but how do they arrest the rot? To start with, they have decided to scrap the 'experience baised contract' system for a 'performance based pay'. I do hope this will be carried through, as it has been discussed a lot of times before. Another radical decision is to cap the endorsements a player is entitled to 3 max. Quite interestingly, the media has reacted quite negatively to this rather than the players. It's the media that is creating a ruckus over this. None of the payers have commented on this, atleast on-the-record. I think this is the right direction forward. The players are there to play cricket and not to lampoon around like clowns selling toothpaste or insurance. I do remember when P Gopichand, the Indian badminton ace said no to advertising for Pepsi because he knew that the drink is not helping the sportsman. The focus needs to shift to the purpose of the player being there, thats to play cricket, than to dance on TV. We need affirmative actions like this to stem the rot that has been happening in Indian cricket. This will definitely help in the short and medium term.
But, the BCCI has not given any clear indication on how they plan to ensure a long term improvement by improving the way domestic cricket is played in India. The number of competitive games, those that go down to the wire, are hardly ever heard of in domestic cricket. While, these are the games that separate the good from the great, the wheat from the chaff. This is partly due to the talent, or lack of it, among the players and partly due to the facilities provided (including the support staff, grounds, equipments, etc). The BCCI does not seem to have a strategy to improve this.
Until the BCCI has a plan of action and sticks to it not matter what may come, I don't think there will be long term change.
