Our Neros fiddle while the game burns

Harsha Bhogle

There was something completely bizarre about the Asia vs the Rest of the World game at The Oval last week. It was a game played to raise funds for the redevelopment of a very English ground. The game was sponsored by an Indian dotcom company (cricketnext.com), the telecast rights were bought by a channel that beams essentially to India (SET Max), the teams were sponsored by an expatriate Indian who trades in basmati rice (Tilda) and on the sightscreen you had the logo of an Indian manufacturer of apparel (Provogue). And it would be fair to say that a large section of the crowd was Indian as well.

Have we heard this story before? Of an English company using Indian raw material, Indian enterprise and Indian wealth to generate funds for itself? The East India Company took root, or was allowed to take root, in India because the princely states had a vision that did not extend beyond the limits of their empires and in any case, their enmity for each other was much greater than their hostility towards a common enemy!

So what is different today? India has a product that people still want to love and admire, has companies that are still willing to invest in it, has people that are still interested in watching it but the princes that are in charge of it have a vision that cannot extend beyond fighting with the Sports Ministry! And so, cricket faces its gravest ever crisis in India, the Neros in every state continue to fiddle and make irresponsible statements while our game burns. And when I say "our game" I mean you and me, the fans that love the game, not the officials who cannot see the writing on the wall !

For heavens sake, icons are clattering like hail on a tin roof, the country is disillusioned, is looking for some, indeed any, signs of commitment but there is not a whisper coming their way. And yet, my reading is that this disillusionment, this despair is like the cry of a little child. It loves its parent but it seeks reassurance. If the BCCI can provide it, if they can be seen to be cleaning up a system, not only will the cricket lovers come back, they will do so with a new resolve. In a crisis, such loyalty is rare and yet, since the CBI probe was announced, we haven't heard one statement directed at the cricket lovers of India, the very people who fund the game and give it its power.

That is why I keep writing about the arrogance of those that run the game. Now, this arrogance is taking them down a path of extreme shortsightedness. It is sending them straight into the bosom of the Sports Ministry and surely given the fickleness of our political system, that can only be a path to ruin.

Why can't the BCCI be proud and strong? Why can't they go the Sports Ministry with a five-year and a twenty-year plan and tell the minister "No other sports body in the country has a plan like this. So leave us to implement it." Is it because they are incompetent? Is it because they do not have the vision? Or do they just not care? Where will the sport and the BCCI be if the ministry decides that cricket will be run by a secretary in the sports ministry? Somebody who, in the next reshuffle could be the secretary in the department of mines! With no disrespect meant to the bureaucrat, a volatile political system can never ensure continuity. This is a very real threat and the BCCI have brought it on themselves.

The lovers of the game meanwhile, wait for a comment on the future of the cricketers they believe to be tainted. Admittedly, the CBI are saying nothing (and that doesn't take into account the ubiquitous "sources within the CBI") and, at the time of writing this, all that the Income Tax department is saying is that the Finance Minister will make a statement in Parliament about all that was found during the raids. That is actually a welcome statement so long as it happens fairly quickly. But in the event that it takes time, the public want to know what the stand of the BCCI will be.

The president, A C Muthaiah, has said that unless proven guilty, the players will be regarded as innocent which is, from the organisation's point of view, the fair thing to say except that the public is very strongly convinced that certain cricketers have sold out. Now, in such a situation, what does the organisation do? My view, and it is a purely personal one, is that the president asks the Income Tax authorities, and asks them in public, to make a statement before the next tournament; tells them that in the interests of the sport, they need to know whether or not to pick certain cricketers.

Should a reply not be forthcoming, it might be a good idea to tell the cricketers in question that they are being kept aside on precautionary grounds for the Sahara Cup and that if the IT department continues to take time, they will be considered for the ICC Trophy in Kenya in October. That way, the BCCI can tell the Sports Minister that they have taken a precautionary measure but that they cannot keep cricketers in limbo because someone else is taking time with an investigation. It will probably be a touch unfair on certain cricketers but one tournament out of many isn't a huge amount to miss. It certainly is not the ideal situation but we are living in a very flawed world at the moment.

But to return to the original question of Indian wealth funding overseas cricket, I wonder how many people noticed that John Major (and remember he is a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) publicly thanked cricketnext.com for sponsoring the event and said they were "terrific". It set me thinking and sadly, I could not remember the last occasion I had heard the head of the BCCI formally, and publicly, thanking the sponsor of an event. When I speak of arrogance in our cricket, this is what I mean even if it is only a very small example.

Why, sponsors in India have a few scary stories to tell about the way they have been treated after having signed a contract. Even if there is, or rather was, an unequal supply-demand relationship between sponsors and the BCCI, you would think that grace and good manners would demand something else. In very stark contrast, I have seen how the England Cricket Board and the United Cricket Board of South Africa treat their sponsors. And I am sure another Indian company will shortly discover that in Australia for the one-day series against South Africa at the Colonial Stadium in Melbourne has been sponsored by a firm from Chennai called Pentasoft. I think it is absolutely brilliant for this will project a completely different picture of India in Australia; as a progressive, intellectual nation that is near the top of the world in emerging technologies.

There is a lot of pride in India and in the Indian cricket fraternity. I think it is a pity that so little of it is seen in the actual running of the game.

Tailpiece:

Talking of pride, there was this very interesting news story. The president of the BCCI confirmed that the fixed deposits worth Rs.98 crores found in the residence of the treasurer did indeed belong to the BCCI. Apparently the office in Bombay is very small and understaffed and so official documents stay in the house of the treasurer! Now, and this is both funny and pathetic, to overcome this the BCCI has asked the government to provide them with a suitable plot to build a sizeable office. Now then, surely you would have thought that with Rs. 98 crores, now officially in the bank, there would be enough for a self-respecting organisation to buy itself an office without having to plead to the government for one!

When millionaires go begging for pennies, pride is a very distant hope.

Harsha Bhogle

Mail Harsha Bhogle