Time to concentrate more on Tests

By S.Thyagarajan

CHENNAI, AUG.11. What used to be a routine and an issue taken for granted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India today has become an embarrassing norm. By denying permission to play Pakistan in the Sahara Cup at Toronto, the Government, rather the Sports Ministry, has upheld what is presumed to be a majority opinion, disfavouring the series at this juncture. Sadly, the BCCI has reduced itself to be brought on par with other national federations, living at the mercy of the Sports Ministry for clearance to take part in competitions abroad.

Ironical though this fact may be for the cricketing establishment none could be blamed for it. With the image of the sport sullied by chain of events, starting from allegations of match-fixing, nexus with bookies down to simultaneous raids by tax authorities in full media glare, it is inevitable the Board, whose office- bearers often talk pompously on the question of autonomy, should come into the tightening grip of the Government.

Governmental pressure over the activities of a national federation, funded or not, is a subject for serious debate. Opinion on this score will definitely be divided given the varying perceptions of officials controlling the administrative machinery. The Board always considered itself above the rest because its dependence on the Government was negligible. Flushed with funds as the Board is even now, financing a project or a tour was never difficult. The thinking in the Government was also very much in favour of the BCCI, reckoned as the best administered unit-financially.

The situation was not the same for others. The Sports Ministry would raise several questions about the need for a venture. Quite a few tours have been shot down. Instances are innumerable of clearance coming at the eleventh hour, depriving teams reaching venues in time, or clearing them without cost, forcing the administrators run from pillar to post to raise funds.

Whether the Ministry questioned the Board today of the necessity to playing Pakistan at Toronto in a series, which even the former BCCI President includes it in his list of ``masala matches,'' is difficult to establish. In the meeting that the officials had with the Sports Minister, some aspect of the series could have been debated. The delay and the statements by the Sports Minister, Mr. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, indicated that the issue had acquired political overtones. Quite predictably, he was not isolated in this. Opinion that India should desist playing Pakistan in the present political climate was shared by some senior cricketers also.

Clearly, the nation is in no mood see cricketers in combat with Pakistan, especially after the popularity rating has taken an incredible nose-dive, what with the icons of the sport grappling with tax and investigative agencies over match fixing scandals and questions raised over their sources of income and investments. The Board, probably by compulsion, has taken a holistic stance that the guilty should be punished.

What exacerbated the situation against the BCCI was the national outrage over the killings of pilgrims in Pehelgam. The suspicion that Pakistan was behind this macabre event contributed in no small measure. Surprisingly, the donors, whose spirit of nationalism soared high, almost to redfining the meaning of patriotism in the wake of the Kargil conflict which forced them to withdraw the cup, have remained unruffled and unresponsive this time. Probably, they are debating on what stance to take. Even Kapil Dev, who campaigned vigorously against the series and visited the jawans in various hospitals to raise the conscience of the nation saw no relevance to linking this massacre to playing Pakistan.

The argument that politics and sport should not blend is debated more for its irrelevance than for its sanctity. Even in the Olympics, where the ideal of sport is sanctified by the spirit of the participants and not that of the winners, political developments have had their impact. A democrat of impeccable credentials as Jimmy Carter ordered the country to stay away from the Moscow Games in 1980 as a retaliation of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. The US as a nation did not suffer due of this development but the Americans, joined by several others, boycotted.

By postponing selection of the team and waiting for the signal for the series, the BCCI rightly took a cautious path. Now it can take refuge under the direction of the Sports Ministry to minimise the embarrassment caused to it for a second time in two years.

Many genuinely wonder why India should play Pakistan every year in a third country in a series that benefits none, except players, bookies, brokers, official and unofficial, and the promoters. For three years now, the Toronto Cup has been enveloped in the grip of controversy. In 1998, the pressure from Indian Olympic Association was such that the BCCI was compelled to send two different teams to Kuala Lumpur and Toronto. The defeat in Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games was even widely believed to be deliberate as to ensure the passage of the players to Toronto, to join the circus there.

Last year, the national mood was clearly against the event. Even the sponsors was unwilling to associate themselves with it, compelling the marketing agency to rope in the West Indies. A similar exercise with a non-descript team is likely now, which will only make the exercise a total farce.

The choice the Board is clear; to go by what the Government has decided, or defy it, in the name of autonomy. In the current phase, with increasing clamour for Government taking a more direct role in monitoring the working of the Board, the best course left is to let the issue sink as a bad dream, and respect the national sentiment that is against engaging Pakistan even in sport.

Aside from reviving the interest of the bookies with or without the players and further denting the image and the cricketers' credibility, the Sahara Cup would have had no relevance even to the sport itself. If cricket is to wrenched from the grip of bookies and brokers then the BCCI should take a policy decision to minimise the number of one-day tournaments, especially in non- Test playing countries and concentrate more on the traditional Test series. There is no other route to regaining credibility in the eyes of the enthusiasts even if the stars come out clean from the present mess they have sunk into.

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