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Burgeoning Cricket Committees of India

It's the latest thing that has hit the cricket world. And guess who the pioneer is? Right, none other than the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The BCCI think tank, in keeping with current trends, have decided to do what politicians in India have been doing for ages - sweeping things under the carpet. And, there is no better way to do this than to form committees. The BCCI have in fact taken a leaf out of the best-seller Yes Minister and made the forming of committees, on a regular basis, an important item on the agenda for the coming season.

Take a look at the various events that have rocked Indian cricket over the past year. To begin with, there was the match-fixing allegation propounded by Manoj Prabhakar. What did the BCCI do? Form a one man committee. Retired Justice Chandrachud met with cricketers past and present, journalists relevant and irrelevant, and collected important information along with autographs before giving Indian cricket a clean bill of health. Interviews were conducted at posh places like the Taj Palace in Delhi and the Cricket Club of India, and the total money spent could probably have sponsored an under-19 team to England. The result? Zlich.

Then came the Rajesh Chauhan issue. The affable Madhya Pradesh off-spinner's action was viewed with suspicion by the International Cricket Council. The ICC gave the BCCI a directive that it would prefer not to see Chauhan play international cricket unless he is cleared. The BCCI promptly nominated a two-man committee comprising Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. Chauhan was hauled to Delhi and watched by the legendary duo, bowling both with and without his shirt. A quick clearance was obtained and Chauhan was back in the international arena. If sources are to be believed, the ICC had informed the BCCI that everything was not right with Chauhan's action much before he was put under the microscope. Though he was not picked for an international fixture, Chauhan continued to play for Madhya Pradesh as well as for Central Zone and no umpire called him during his domestic sojourn.

Now that the ICC has, once again, cast aspersions on Chauhan's action, the matter will be reviewed by the BCCI's regular technical committee headed by Gavaskar, who had cleared him in the first place. If the technical committee finds Chauhan's action suspicious, the bowler would be referred to an expert to enable the off-spinner to take corrective measures. I, for one, would not be surprised if the BCCI forms yet another committee which would identify which expert Chauhan should be sent to.

The third and most shameful incident was the Indore pitch disaster. The India-Sri Lanka one-day international was called off by the ICC match referee after a mere three overs, and the two sides played an exhibition match which would have made a masala match look serious. It was fortunate that the crowd, which had paid a fortune to see the real thing, seemed happy with the display of 'virtual' fireworks and there was no damage to life or property.

After that day, which I consider as the darkest in the history of cricket administration in India, the BCCI once again appointed a committee to look into the matter. The Indore wicket was sealed, to enable nominated members to have a close look -- but not before local school children played their one-day matches and a couple of motor cyclists decided to use the stadium as a motocross venue. It was a real pity that the BCCI did not include 'top' soil experts as part of this 'special' pitch committee. The reason why this committee can be termed 'special' is because there is, already, a committee which looks into the various stadia, pitches, etc. all over India. What role the regular 'pitches' committee plays is anybody's guess, but the formation of the special committee is in keeping with the BCCI tradition of wheels within wheels, rather, committees within committees.

Not content with forming committees when there are plenty existing, the BCCI has gone ahead and formed yet another committee to look into the 'misconduct' of Manoj Prabhakar. Headed by none other than the board president himself, the three-member committee will review the observations of the earlier Chandrachud committee. If found guilty (of what, one is unclear), the newly appointed committee would punish Prabhakar by withholding the amount due to him from the BCCI's benevolent fund. What one fails to understand is why the BCCI did not threaten Prabhakar in the first place, instead of wasting time and money in a one-man probe which, as expected, did not prove anything.

Apart from the regular committees that exist as part of the BCCI, there have been so many more that have been formed in recent times that the august body should seriously consider forming a separate committee that looks into the working of the various 'special' committees. The BCCI could term this the Mother of All Committees (MOAC). The main job of the MOAC would be to help the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Bishen Bedi, Ajit Wadekar et al -- all of whom must, by now, be thoroughly confused about what committees they are part of and what their various job definitions are.

Apart from the MOAC, the BCCI should look at appointing extra special committees which, from time to time, look into important aspects like conducting the BCCI Annual General meeting smoothly by sending timely minutes of the previous meeting, settling the differences of opinion between the Chairman of Selectors and the BCCI Hon. Secretary, fixing ideal 5-star venues for the BCCI AGM etc.

In all probability, the BCCI will use Committee Banao, Cricket Bachao as its main plank for 1998. The late 80s saw the BCCI coin the slogan 'Team of the 90s'. Now, it is seriously considering using 'Committed to Committees' as the new slogan for the next decade.

I for one would not be surprised if the BCCI goes the whole hog, and changes its name from the Board of Control for Cricket in India to the Burgeoning Cricket Committees of India.

Hemant Kenkre