We deserve much more from BCCI

The irony cannot be missed The wealthy Indian cricket board continues to be miserly on a key front on an aspect which directly or indirectly concerns the followers of the game The name of that button like the sport also starts with C But the czars of Indian cricket donrsquot want anything to do with that commonality The word is communicationThe deplorable lack of it is not something the establishment is embarrassed about though They give the impression that doing the minimum on this score is the only way to run the gameThe one occurrence that took the cake with all its cream and candles was the press release the BCCI sent out on December 8 It was primarily about the Test team for the threematch 202122 series in South Africa Towards the end of the press notemdashfifth paragraph to be precisemdashappeared these words ldquoThe AllIndia Senior Selection Committee also decided to name Mr Rohit Sharma as the Captain of the ODI amp T20I teams going forwardrdquoItrsquos a development that merited a virtual press conference but that has become too much to ask considering how few and far between BCCImedia interactions have been in the last few years Indeed the establishment works on a noquestions basisPresident Sourav Gangulyrsquos interactions with the media are nearzilch and itrsquos been more than two years since he became president Rameez Raja who took over as Pakistanrsquos board chairman in September has had far more conversations with his countryrsquos mediaIf Ganguly wants to leave a legacy as glowing as his cream captaincy years he must be more proactive from his presidentrsquos seatEven Indiarsquos chairman of selectors former fast bowler Chetan Sharma is not made to face the media or explain his committeersquos movesUndoubtedly chief selectors the world over would love to have such a jobmdashmake key decisions without having to answer a single question at a press conferenceYes the BCCI is an autonomous body and probably the only time they were under pressure to be transparent was when the Lodha Panel put in regulations But it is unhealthy for decisions to be made concerning the most popular sport in the land with only flakes of official information thrown around for the mediapublic to consumeI come back to this passage again ldquoThe AllIndia Senior Selection Committee also decided to name Mr Rohit Sharma as the Captain of the ODI amp T20I teams going forwardrdquo This well and truly proves that things are reduced to lip serviceIf Chetanrsquos predecessors think about his current luxury theyrsquod probably realise how fortunate he is I have seen a few chief selectors more than merely nervous before addressing the press after a selection committee meeting I also remember how a former great while paying tribute to a departed chairman of selectors pointed to the pressure the media put on him and how that contributed to his ill health Not for a moment am I underestimating this particular aspect For nothing is more important than life But itrsquos only fair for people in power to deal with questions especially when itrsquos a paid jobFor example we would like to know why Ishant Sharma is persisted with Test debut way back in 2007 and whether too much is being read into Bhuvneshwar Kumarrsquos disappointing show at the T20 World Cup to leave him out of the mix Or what forced the selectors to remove Ajinkya Rahane from the Test vicecaptaincy and hand it to Rohit Considering what Rahane had achieved a Test series win in Australia in Virat Kohlirsquos absence after an opening Test defeat where India were bowled out for 36 was there a case for more tolerance some of us may have wanted to know As it turned out the Test team were without a vicecaptain when Rohit was ruled out of the South Africa series with a hamstring injury Itrsquos not the first time hersquos missing an important Test tour through injury And if Rahanersquos scratchy form and Rohitrsquos promotion as limited overs captain are reasons why the middleorder batsman cannot continue to be vicecaptain have Rohitrsquos fitness issues been put forward in the corridor of powers while deciding his leadership rolesThe Boardrsquos reluctance to spell out details about injuries seems to have spilled over to prematch conferences No injuries were revealed to the media the day before the India v New Zealand Mumbai Test But on the morning of the match the media were told through a press release that Rahane sustained a left hamstring strain Ishant Sharma had injured his little finger and Ravindra Jadeja was enduring a swollen forearmmdashall out of the playing XIMeanwhile nothing has been more talked about than Kohlirsquos sacking as ODI captain The decision by the BCCIselectors may have been laden with logic but it needed to be explained along with the official communication if there was no intention of conducting a media conferenceSome pundits reckon that the decision to take away Kohlirsquos ODI captaincy was unfair considering India were a dominating force in 50over cricket under him However Kohli shouldnrsquot have expected to retain his ODI captaincy after having relinquished the T20 leadership But he did considering what he wrote in his statement ldquoI feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian Team in Test and ODI CricketrdquoThe Boardselectors cannot be faulted for having one captain for both shorter formats but where they embarrassed themselves was when they forgot to acknowledge the big contribution Kohli made to Indiarsquos ODI fortunes as captain They did so the following dayIn trying to execute the downplay of the yearmdashsacking their ODI captainmdashthey forgot grace They didnrsquot forget to stay arrogantmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper