Unlike political leaders who announce intent in a pre-election manifesto, cricket administrators run for office and then work through what is on the table. A week into his new job, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly playing a T10 innings is busy with meetings, press interviews and felicitation events.
Already, he has spoken about challenges: restoring normalcy, undoing emergency, day-night Tests, ICC revenue share, first-class cricket, NCA and getting fans back into stadiums.
This is a formidable list but Ganguly has indicated that profound change is imminent. When he said Virat Kohli is the most important man in Indian cricket, it wasn’t a routine tribute from one Indian captain to another. It implies players are key stakeholders and the captain enjoys a special position in the order of precedence. Hopefully, Ganguly will reboot BCCI to embrace this thinking.
Similarly, his comment about ‘champion’ MS Dhoni suggests those who are special deserve special treatment. It is clear Ganguly will bat for players and they will get due respect for their contribution. So, expect a change in the pecking order of power where—except for superstars—players were not in pole position.
DOMESTIC STALWARTS
On the contrary, players who had served Indian cricket with distinction were humiliated and disrespected. What happened directly to Anil Kumble, and indirectly to the CAC/Rahul Dravid/ Zaheer Khan, are Indian cricket’s most shameful episodes. Under Ganguly that will be a thing of the past.
Respect should also trickle down to state associations and first-class players. Domestic giants Amol Muzumdar, Sitanshu Kotak, Vineet Saxena, Amarjit Kaypee and Rajat Bhatia deserve to be lauded. Unfortunately, despite their enormous achievements over 20 years or more, they are bit players with their talent and experience wasted.
That Indian cricket can disrespect players is an unfortunate part of its otherwise rich culture. Fans raise players to a level beyond sport only to pull them down. In their prime, top players are showered with wealth, fame and affection but all this disappears pretty soon.
Sachin Tendulkar and Kohli, before them Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, are permanent heroes for bringing prestige to India and inspiring generations to dream big. Dhoni is also in this league.
It’s not that India doesn’t honour its sporting heroes. Tendulkar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and is a Bharat Ratna. Others have received civilian honours and government sports awards.
BCCI does its bit by playing the naming game. It runs tournaments in memory of Ranji, CK Nayudu, Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazare and Vinoo Mankad. India-Australia Tests are played for the Gavaskar-Border trophy.
Kapil’s name is on many dressing rooms and stands at cricket stadiums are dedicated to players past and present.
Dravid has a wall to himself at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium and Bengaluru civic authorities named streets after Erapalli Prasanna and Anil Kumble. BCCI organises the Pataudi lecture every year and an annual awards function celebrates Polly Umrigar and other past giants.
But true respect is more than tokenism. ICC has a Hall of Fame and current Australian players vote to decide their annual award winners. MCC grants membership to eminent cricketers, holds the prestigious Cowdrey lecture and commissions portraits of eminent greats, not to forget the famous Lord’s honours board.
It will take India time to establish such strong cricket traditions. A cricket museum has been mentioned many times but is yet to get started. Till then it is only CCI, Mumbai that provides a glimpse of all that is glorious about Indian cricket.
But with Ganguly, Brijesh Patel and Ashok Malhotra in key positions, and ex-players in state associations, things have turned a corner. Players now have an opportunity to give back to the game.
