The Aussie itinerary -- and a teeny little problem
The Rediff Team
BCCI vice president Kamal Morarka is head of the Scheduling Committee. He is, however, completely in the dark about the itinerary for the Australian tour of India in February.
An itinerary has in fact been drawn up, by the BCCI and the ACB. As far as the ACB is concerned, it is final. The BCCI however says it will ratify it only on January 22, at the meeting of its Executive Committee.
Morarka does not have a copy of this itinerary -- he told us so. According to the BCCI vice-president, it is board secretary Jaywant Lele who has drawn up the itinerary, it is Lele who has been involved in fine-tuning it in concert with the ACB, and it is Lele who has the details.
It is, apparently, a secret -- so secret, that even board vice-presidents and even the head of the scheduling committee are not privy to the details. And yet, it is available to any member of the public with a net connection.
This is the itinerary -- as discussed, and decided upon, by the ACB and Jaywant Lele on behalf of the BCCI:
Feb 14: Arrival in India
Feb 17-19: Vs India A, Baroda
Feb 22-24, Vs Ranji Trophy Champions (Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai)
Feb 27-Mar 3: Ist Test, Mumbai (Bombay)
Mar 6-8: Vs Board President's XI, Cochin
Mar 11-15: 2nd Test, Chennai (Madras)
Mar 18-22: 3rd Test, Calcutta
Mar 25: Ist ODI, Guwahati
Mar 28: 2nd ODI, New Delhi
Mar 31: 3rd ODI, Gwalior
Apr 3: 4th ODI, Pune
Apr 6: 5th ODI, Bangalore
There's only one catch -- as per an agreement entered into between the BCCI and the CBFS in April 2000, India is due to play in Sharjah in a triseries between April 4-14.
This is the corner the board has painted itself into, thanks to its own carelessness. There are only two ways out, and the board is exploring both of them.
The first is to get the ACB to rework the above itinerary. The ACB board is unwilling to consider the suggestion.
The second option is to get the CBFS organisers to either kick off the triseries with the other two teams, and allow India to fly there after the 6th (which means that India will play an ODI game in Bangalore on the 6th, fly to Bombay that night, fly to Sharjah early next morning, and play in Sharjah on the 8th), or to push the Sharjah triseries back by a few days.
To reschedule the Sharjah triseries, the CBFS organisers will need to talk to the boards of the other two teams -- Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Both teams are in fact free during the period in question, and can without much trouble agree to start the triseries a week later than originally scheduled. The question is, will they? Pakistan, for instance, has been embarassed, financially and otherwise, by India's refusal to tour in January, and is in no mood to do the Indian board any favours.
Besides, both teams would find it advantageous to insist on the original schedule. Both Sri Lanka and Pakistan can be fresh and battle-ready by April 4, whereas India would have finished a gruelling three-Test series, followed by five tough ODIs against the reigning world champions, and been forced to fly the very next day and play in Sharjah a day later -- a schedule that guarantees a tired, jaded team in no position to play anywhere close to its best.
It will be interesting to see how the board wriggles out of this one.
Postscript: Subsequent to the publishing of this story, Jaywant Lele spoke to Rediff from his home in Baroda. His comments:
"Have we given out the itinerary? What you have is the itinerary the ACB wants, not the finalised version. Nothing has been confirmed yet. The official itinerary will be decided and given out on January 22, and not before that."
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