Harbhajan Singh asks who altered BCCI rules, says same policies existed earlier

Former India offspinner Harbhajan Singh on Friday asserted that the BCCIs 10point policy for its centrallycontracted players has actually been in place since his playing days and wanted to know when was it altered and by whomTerming the guidelines fresh documentation Harbhajan said the move diverts attention from the teams forgettable onfield performance against New Zealand and Australia recentlyDays after the 13 defeat in the BorderGavaskar Trophy the BCCI has come up with a 10point diktat to promote discipline and unity making domestic cricket mandatory imposing restriction on the presence of families and personal staff on tours and banning individual commercial endorsements during seriesTo Harbhajan all these measures seemed like old wine in a new bottleLet me first put this on record When I was reading the travel policy document reported by the media I hardly found anything new from the last time I represented India as a centrallycontracted cricketer Harbhajan told PTI during an interactionAt least nine out of 10 points including duration of family visits staying in same hotel practice timings all are same My question is if these rules were in place during my time who all have altered it and when That should be probed Harbhajan who has 700 plus international wickets across formats saidThe same assertion was also made by one of Harbhajans former India teammate Irfan PathanFor Harbhajan what is certainly not funny is the timing of issuing these guidelines as he feels the discussion should have been strictly on cricket onlyHum log mudde se bhatak rahein hain We are deviating from the main issue We didnt lose 13 because wives and partners were there for two months We didnt lose because someone travelled separatelyWe lost because we have played very poor cricket at times We didnt bat well even at home We have players who are horribly out of form What are the course corrections being made Or is it just these offthefield things being discussed he questionedOne of Indias finest spinners Harbhajan then recollected his playing daysI think some of the points needed to be revisited because they were being flouted Like in our times I never saw a Sachin Tendulkar Sourav Ganguly Rahul Dravid or Anil Kumble leave for Mumbai Kolkata or Bengaluru just because the match has ended in three days and next game is a week awayThey all stayed and travelled to next destination Only change I see in the new rulebook is 150 kg suitcase allowance Back in the day we used to have lesserWhy would you need to tell players that you have to travel by team bus Thats a given If someone was breaking the rule that person needs to be probedWhile he completely supported barring the personal entourage of any particular player or a coach Harbhajan felt that the BCCI can have a couple of quality chefs travelling with the teamBCCI has deep pockets Why do you need to carry personal chefs In soccer World Cup big teams carry their own chef who takes care of dietary requirements of players Have a couple of team chefs It is not a big deal he addedGambhirs role is on field not administrativeAccording to Harbhajan the only thing new in the policy document is players requiring prior approval of head coach Gautam Gambhir on certain matters and the former spinner didnt agree with thatIn our times it used to be written that prior approval of BCCI was needed on certain matters So for approvals drop a mail to BCCI and ask for permission Why does the head coach need to get into all this That is not his jobHis job is on the field and in the technical aspects where we are lackingAdministrative part should be left with competent people in the BCCI he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever