Anil Yeola

1> A person if elected to board should only be allowed to continue to its member for 3 terms. After third term he shouldnt be eligible for being member third time.

2> BBCI should be audited by auditors every year.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Deepak

The following things should be done .
1)  Selection meeting should be shown live. 
2)  Fix Salary for all those belongs to BCCI.
3)  Cut in salary if the team is not performing
4)  Foreign teams and foreign should play in local counties so as to make it more competitve rather than just playing to make in National team

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Naveen Santhapuri

- I agree with many people who said the name of BCCI must be changed to "Cricket India" or "Indian Cricket Association".

- Mr. Dalmiya has done well to help the ICC [Images] and BCCI cash on the popularity of the game in the country rather than improving the game or selling the game better. He has not done well to improve the game's popularity or sell it better in countries like West Indies [Images] and England [Images] where the game was popular.

- Do not hand over the control of BCCI to a government authority (that might be the worst thing to happen to cricket in India). Just make it an 'accountable' corporate body.

- I think the vision statement proposed by Rediff( Mr. Prem Panicker) is the best and should be made the vision statement of 'Cricket India'  in its current form.

- Also do not blame the hockey association for lack of people's interest in hockey. They have been doing well within their limitations. The cricket body must take a leaf out of their book in promoting cricket in a manner similar to the Premier Hockey League (PHL).

- The rediff vision statement recommends a cricket tournament similar to PHL (although I doubt people will have any interest in matches spanning 5 days given the turnouts to international test matches in india) and that is a necessity (the Premier one day cricket). Look at the American Football league (NFL) and the interest people have in matches played by state teams or even local university teams! The domestic cricket tournament can itself be such a huge hit if there is quality.

- Such a domestic tournament is a must if nothing else is changed (which is the most likely case). That will help people in enjoying the game atleast, without having to shutdown their TVs [Get Quote] worrying about pathetically loosing to another country.

- The 'accountable' cricket body must have its own channel for broadcasting cricket ( why not use all the broadcast money for the promotion of cricket instead of helping ESPN or ZEE get rich? ). There will be lot of cricket all round the year to show on that channel once the proposed domestic leagues are in place.

I've not read the BCCI vision statement until today and I thought 'are you �� kidding me?'

However sloppy the statement was it was still significant in the fact that 90% of the goals (read them here http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2000/aug/01vision.htm if you've not) the BCCI mentioned in the statement were not achieved. To mention a few (To ensure that India remains the top 3 team of the world in the next 5 years. ,  To prepare a team capable of winning world cup 2002(3), To create excellent infrastructure for the game in India). In a corporate body such a failure amounts to the firing of all the people in the hierarchy responsible for the failures. So I hope the courts verdict will be in favor of the public.

Good luck to 'cricket india' and kudos to Rahul Mehra and Shantanu Sharma.

P.S: I know that all this will happen in utopia only but a court verdict can atleast shake the BCCI for once and change some things. 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dilip Mahanty

The BCCI has been a law unto itself far too long.It is a shadowy body doing things in utmost secret.The same people or their nominees keep on being elected repeatedly and no one is aware of how much financial benefit accrues to each of them.Change is needed to make it accountable and transparent.My suggestions for reform of BCCI & Indian cricket are:

1.The authority of this body needs to be checked through an act of parliament and the accounts to be audited and made public -including incentives and perks to the office bearers.The current framework of BCCI  with State affliations should be dismantled so that election of representatives to the board is not subject to various regional pressures.

2. The moneybags,business people and political appointees running the Board should be replaced by professional and able administrators in consultation with select ex cricketers who have long experience of playing at the highest level and who know what needs to be done to improve India's performance.The administrators and the consultants should be adequately compensated.

3.The selection committee should comprise of   4 ex  cricketers who have played no less than  25-30 Test matches. A batsman,a bowler,a wicket keeper and an all rounder could be the 4 selectors. The selection committee should have a term of 3 years and the members should be paid  salaries & perks during their tenure. They should be asked to attend as many Ranji Trophy,Duleep Trophy matches as practicable and shortlist talents for higher levels of coaching leading to national service.

4.The Board should appoint a  few experienced curators and even send them abroad to learn about preparing  pitches in different conditions. These curators should standardise the procedures and oversee preparations especially before international matches. They should be independent and should not take orders from captains to prepare pitches in a particular way. Pitches should be true and fair to both batsmen and bowlers.

5. The scheduling of domestic and international matches should be logical and practical so that the players representing India can participate in domestic competition and also be fresh for international games. The number of one day cricket should also be reduced. No cricket should be played in India between April- August in extreme conditions and the players should use this break to prepare for the next season.

6.International matches should only be played in cities which have international standard sporting venues and facilities. This will enhance the reputation of the country and also encourage tourism.

7.Coaches for both batting and bowling should be selected for at least 3 years. The coaches should be given complete authority and no player ,however famous, should undermine the coach's authority.

8. New players, playing for India, should be contracted for a year at least. During this period they should be prevented from signing individual sponsorship deals. Too many promising cricketers have been distracted by the riches and glamour of sponsorships and have not paid due attention to their game and fitness.

9. The sense of pride playing for their country should be instilled in the cricketers. The indian flag should be proudly embossed on their caps/helmets. The Board should invite real life heroes from every sphere to motivate the players regularly.

10. BCCI should take up any issue ,hich is seen unfair to Indian cricket/cricketers,firmly with the ICC so that biased decisions are not repeated. No cricketing country should be treated as more equal than the others.
 
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Niranjan Girme

Hi,
 
What harsha bhogle says is right.. we need to have more accountability for the BCCI. This accoutability should be  enforced for all the aspects of the BBCI's functioning, be it finance, be it selection of players, be it assigning of matches to venues etc...
 
Some sort of internal control structure should be present. And just like we have financial auditors we should have independant cricketing auditors (maybe chosen by the  govt) analyse the proceedings and happenings within the BCCI on a quarterly basis and produce a report availiable to the public.

Maybe this could be something similiar to the Food and Drug adimistration (FDA) in the US that can randomly inspect any restuarant or pharmaceutical firm for its quality, manufacturing practices etc. maybe this will make the BCCI and its actions more transparent to the general public.

Regards

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Satish Netala

Hi

I have some points that are needed to be implemented in BCCI:
(My wish list)
 
1.     BCCI should be a professional body with full time paid members with fixed time durations of not more than three years.

2.     BCCI should be headed by a CEO and not President and there should be in place elections which are conducted in free, fair and transparent manner.

3.     BCCI should be treated like a corporate body, accounts should be transparent and all the officials should be held responsible for their actions.

4.     BCCI makes crores of rupees from the public and sponsors. Board has to declare its statement of affairs at regular intervals.

5.     Expenses on 5 star accommodation, liquor & Entertainment by BCCI should be audited and restricted to what is absolutely necessary.

6.     BCCI should pay TAX to the government of India like any other corporate.

7.     BCCI should publish the Financial Balance sheet in the media.

8.     BCCI should publish the planned improvement program in the beginning of the year and actual program done at the end of the year.

9.     BCCI should have a national selection committee of not more than three Test match players with at least 50 Test caps who are paid a salary for their services and they should be assisted by zonal level committees who help them with the identification and selection of right talent.

10.     BCCI should come out with a proper process of selecting Players, Captain, Coach, Office bearers etc.

11.     BCCI should have Assistant coaches and succession planning should be strictly adhered to ensure successful transition from one coach to another and continuation of strategies.

12.     A few ex-cricketers should be in charge of Talent Hunting. Their job should be only to go around the country and discover talent.  Once this is done the BCCI should have academy to be in charge of nurturing the talent.

13.     If BCCI does not budge from its present stand, then the players need to be told that they are not playing for INDIA but for BCCI; and the public need not pay any money to watch them play. Commentators and cricket aficionados should refrain from calling them Indian players and instead brand them as BCCI players.

14.     BCCI should build a museum, containing the shields, cup etc won by our team, right from the first day of BCCI.

15.     BCCI should float its own TV channel or buy stakes into a sports channel to ensure that TV revenues are protected.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Sivalingam, Ganeshbabu

1. BCCI should be functioning like a Public limited company.

2. Must abide with any financial and tax rules that any public company will have.

3. Must bring in cricketers only in the functionaries (People like Dalmiya can be consultant please say No to these Nair type people).
 - All the players do not reach all the levels. So these people will be looking at other professions some where down in the line of their life and so, it will be a lot easier to bring in these business/lawyers/Administrative people back to this organization.

4. Must float its own TV channels (ICTV).

5. The 50% profit must be given to Spots ministry to promote other Sports.

6. 25% profit must be given to future plans (Further infrastructure/benefits etc.,)

7. 25% shall be shared by all the employees including the players as their Bonus.

8. International games can go only for 6/7 months in a year.

9. 3/4 Months must be concentrated on domestic (Any national player must play a minimum of 40% of these matches)

10. 3/1 months must not have any cricket in the country.

11. Every Test Playing nation must be played against within 2 years in home.

12. At any level the infrastructure Frame work should be same (Be it district/state/zonal/Nation level).
 - Like at any level you play with 11 players a side, (soon media will start taking about a coaching team??!!!  viz., batting, bowling, fielding, wicket keeping, captaining, physio ??!!!!)

13. At any levels, the games should be capable of adding any outside professional players ( not necessarily foreign player...even an Indian from another state can be given a chance).

14. Should have a proper PRO to face these crazy media people and should have a law department.

15. Last but not the least Academy should be set in all these levels.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Vikram Jhala

When are Indians finally going  to realize that 2nd. best is not the best?

When Wipros and Infosys [Get Quote] can be world leaders, why can  BCCI not learn from it.

Get rid of these parasites and put in successful leaders and executioners in there.

Move the dreams of India winning in miraculous situations in Bollywood movies to a reality where Wipros like companies are winning everyday.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Mail your comments to cricket@rediff.co.in

More responses:
'Former players should head BCCI'
'Revamp domestic cricket culture'

Also read: Help the BCCI clean up its act