No discussion these days seems to be free from India's early world cup exit. With the emotional Indians pouring out thru a willing print and electronic media, the milieu is fraught with sarcasm, mockery and violent emotional outbursts. Sure, there is money involved and lots of it, passions of umpteen fans and yes national pride at stake. But, I am not able to appreciate the responses of even educated and literate individuals to such a situation/ problem. My contention is that the solution does not lie in sacking some heads. Unless we are willing to engage with the deeper root causes and their remedies, the pangs and jubilation of an inconsistent team need to be contended with for ever. There are analogies of Indian cricket with some corporations. The approach seems to be- let us deal with the now and here, the short term, the visible action, the easily comprehend able aspects. Leave alone the long term, the abstractness of it, the complexity of getting behind feelings of gut and gumption (& going by it) and the patient psychological investment required. But come to think of it- all great teams the Australians since Allan Border,the GE since Jack Welsh have only taken the latter path. There are no quick fixes, friends !
Passion and sport remind me of Brazil. If we are so passionate about this game and if there is money even if not as much as that in soccer clubs, then we need to examine as to why Brazil can do it and we slip. I am of the opinion, that in years Indian Cricket has taken two goods decisions by getting two successive professional coaches in John and Greg. These guys in my opinion are among the best coaches of the game. Don't forget, Greg Chappel has been dubbed the best coach the game has seen before he became Indian Coach. If his exit is inevitable, I am sure it doesn't help his CV either. But let's come back to the issue. Again, in Sourav and Rahul we have perhaps the better captains India had in ages. The record speaks for itself. What then is the problem? In my opinion, the way we groom teenagers into cricketers, the facilities, the selection pyramid and the way we administer the game. How can politicians and other elite civilians run BCCI in honorary positions with no accountability? I would rather have the entire BCCI and state associations dissolved and set up a company with BCCI's coffers with professional managers and run it like an enterprise. Pay the people who work for this enterprise and make them accountable for their job. Make their operations and finances transparent thru their website. We are seeking accountability from players when they don't perform. Ironically, we seem to be completely oblivious of BCCI's performance and the way it is run when this impacts Indian Cricket more harder and deeper, just that it is not as directly visible to common man every day !
But then again all this calls for sustained effort and patience over the long term and more importantly a willingness to deal with the abstract and the unpleasant. And yes, some people cannot make money thru illegitimate ways. Are we game?
There is a talk going on to bring Sachin / Yuvraj as Captain. This makes me really laugh. Loosing two out of four matches in world cup can mean more than winning 17 One dayers on a trot. In my opinion, when you select a captain do your homework well before. Because, teams and leaders are not built over night. It certainly helped that Sourav was India's captain for 5 years. And Graeme Smith was a disaster in the intial years for South Africa and his age and context did not make it easy for him either. Look at any captain who eventually became successful- Stefen Flemming, Arjuna Ranatunga, Sourav Ganguly- All of them were lucky to have been at helm for considerable period of time. So, Rahul Dravid - is he a bad leader / is his integrity questionable? / has he not shown commitment? Well, I do not think so. Hence asking for his head in order to assuage public anger may not be the solution Indian Cricket needs now. My suggestion would be to persist with him and build a team and identify his successor and groom him to take over the reigns in 3-4 years time. Let Rahul be part of his succession planning, himself.
The way league cricket is played in India can also be reviewed. Spending the money to build infra, facilities, grooming future cricketers even though crowds may not be keen to watch such matches would be the key. We may also look at keeping 2-3 positions for international players in various teams like in the county cricket. That will bring early exposure and experience to budding players.
Clearly, there seems to be more to what we ought to do with the game, a complete overhaul of the system which will take time, money and efforts. Emotional outcrys to roll some heads will not solve the problem. I really wish, WC 2007 is a good wake up call.
