Bouquets for the BCCI

Prem Panicker

This column has, in the past, had occasion to tee off on the BCCI. In fact, some would say the column has teed off harder than Tiger Woods ever did.

In response, we've got mails that were positive. But equally, we've had mails that said that for reasons of our own, we are on this trip of always seeing -- and highlighting -- the bad while never ever acknowledging the good.

Our response to those mails has been uniform: that Rediff is not some kind of public relations agent, nor is the Board our client. Our job is to applaud the good and condemn the bad -- and if there has been more of the latter, then it is merely a reflection on how the board itself has functioned.

Against this background, it gives us a great feeling to applaud, unstintedly, two announcements that the board made over the weekend. The first relates to the revamped Ranji Trophy structure.

The domestic season has for too long been devalued by mismatched teams 'competing' against one another -- the end result being inflated batting and bowling averages that do not present a correct picture of the competence of the batsmen and bowler concerned, and their fitness for the highest level.

A tiered Ranji system, as proposed by the board, should change all that. Domestic matches will become contests between equals -- and this in turn will up the ante as far as teams and individuals are concerned. The heightened competitiveness that is built into the new format is one of the best things that could have happened to Indian cricket, and the board deserves all the credit going for taking the step.

Now, wouldn't it be brilliant if we could go the whole hog, and lay down certain minimum standards for the pitches on which these games will be played? Couldn't we, while we are about it, design our international calendar in such a way that the national players will be available to turn out for their respective state sides, thus further strengthening the tournament and sharpening its competitive edge?

Hopefully, having made the first step towards change, the board will now go the distance and mandate good competitive pitches? And mandate, too, that all internationals *have* to necessarily take part in the domestic tournament.

The second -- and more important -- announcement relates to the putting in place of a contract system. For too long now, we have been demanding professionalism from this side. But for a player to show the spirit of the professional, he first had to be treated like one -- and putting national players on contract is a step in that direction. And importantly, it puts a premium not on names and hype, but on actual on-field performance.

In the absence of such a system, a Sachin Tendulkar or Sourav Ganguly or Rahul Dravid made the same as your newest rookie -- and they made that money irrespective of whether they got runs and wickets and whether the team won, or not.

Now, it is possible to put a premium on performance and results, and to use the national contract as the carrot to reward consistently good performance or the stick with which to punish lack of commitment to the cause.

The board deserves the kudos of the cricket fans for having the courage to shed its blinkers, to see the sense in a contract system, and to decide to go with the times.

In passing, we also have selfish reasons for applauding the board's decision to implement the contract system.

For six years now, Rediff has been consistently covering cricketing issues. And at some point, a sense of frustration, helplessness almost, had set in.

Day in and day out, we would write columns, analysis, think pieces, about issues -- ranging from match-fixing, to the latest performances. We would, to the best of our ability, point out to things that were going wrong, and even attempt to suggest solutions.

And nothing would change. The next day would bring a fresh blunder by the board, a fresh assault on our sensibilities by the team.

At some point, it got to where we would think, hell, what is the point in writing all this stuff? Who reads? Who cares?

It was way back in January that Faisal Shariff first wrote about the contract system. As the link below shows, subsequent articles have focussed on the question, analysing the various possibilities, suggesting reasons, solutions...

At times, admittedly in little ways, we've been in a position to help players find answers to certain questions. And through it all, we have also found ourselves in the position of having our credibility challenged -- thus, when we published the story of senior players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid coming out in favour of the contract system, various newspapers and websites suggested that we had fabricated those comments, cooked them up out of whole cloth, that the players in question had never even spoken to us.

Eight months after that first column by Faisal, the contract system is now a reality. And that reality, in turn, tells us that there is after all a point to writing. Media columns need not necessarily be the reason for change -- but they can in their own small way be catalysts.

Meanwhile... how about putting it together, loud and clear, for Dr A C Muthiah and the Board of Control for Cricket in India?

Read also: The Contract System -- The Complete Coverage

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