After England had lost their seventh successive Test to Australia, at Lord's in 1993, chairman of the selection committee Ted Dexter was found to be in a strangely reflective frame of mind
After England had lost their seventh successive Test to Australia, at Lord's in 1993, chairman of the selection committee Ted Dexter was found to be in a strangely reflective frame of mind. "I think we are all slightly down in the dumps after another loss,'' he said. "We may be in the wrong sign...Venus may be in the wrong juxtaposition with somewhere else...''.
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| A dejected Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 |
Those who knew Dexter well were divided in their opinion. Some vouched that he had had a touch of the sun, others that he had had too much gin in the afternoon. Not even the stars, however, could save his job after that, but Dexter set up a benchmark as cricket official that has become the stuff of lore.
Pakistan's cricket administrators, on the other hand, are obviously not given to such self-indulgence. After the rout Down Under earlier this year, the PCB slapped bans on several players -- including three captains -- and initiated an inquiry that has lately become the stuff of widespread gossip and mirth in the cricket world.
If the T20 captain -- who had been found chomping on a ball during one of the matches -- says that his team lost because the players spent too much time ogling at girls in the stands instead of concentrating on play in the middle, one reckons the PCB authorities were stumped for words and had to take drastic action!
In this context, the show cause notice issued to six Indian players after the debacle in the Twenty20 World Championship seems almost sensible. I prefixed the adjective with 'almost' after due deliberation for though the notice was issued for an alleged 'pub brawl', everybody knows that it is an oblique missive to the entire team that the Board has not taken the setback kindly.
The notice is well-timed -- and yet unfulfilling. It is nobody's case that bad behavior should be condoned. But it should also not be that the alleged 'pub brawl', which occurred after the team's ouster from the tournament, becomes a red herring to lead the focus away from what really went wrong in the West Indies.u00a0
Several causes have been propounded for the team's early exit from the tournament: physical and mental fatigue because of too much cricket, insufficient time for preparation, too much easy money and too much partying during the IPL etc, etc. The single biggest factor, however, was obscured. Were we good enough?
There are pros and cons to T20, and even more where the IPL is concerned as it treads a wobbly path to come out of its current mess. But to put up the hedonistic nature of the IPL or plain fatigue from too much cricket to explain India's failure is to miss the woods for the trees. The table below gives the workload over the year of a small sample of players, but enough to bust the myth that India's players were overburdened.
Clearly most of the world's leading cricketers have a similar workload. So if a side hasn't done well, it must be because it didn't play well; or is not good enough. This could be because the players were unfit, not committed enough. Or that the system protects such shenanigans.
For instance, how did unfit players get into the squad? Why is the national coach not officially in the loop with coaches of teams playing the IPL to monitor at least players who are certainties? Why can't the BCCI keep a diligent tab on the centrally contracted players at least? If there are some players who are showing loss of confidence or form, why can't they be shifted quickly to the NCA? And for those who are losing their moorings otherwise, is there a mentoring programe in place so that good talent is not squandered?
My issue with the BCCI is not that it does not do enough for players, but does this randomly, without a cogent vision or steadfast processes in place.u00a0 Which is why I think a mere 'show cause' notice will have little value unless the follow up measures by the BCCI 'show concern'. What this means is more rigorous analyses, honest appraisal of limitations and a more meaningful relationship with players.
If the show cause notice is just a perfunctory show of power, it is doomed to fail.
