Reality Bytes from the Cricket World

Once again the start of India's campaign at the ICC Twenty20 World Cup is being usurped by drama in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) boardroom. But it is not the only thing weighing on the minds of the cricket world as a few shocks are in store as the early days of the World Cup are revealing.

Sourav Ganguly is no stranger to, nor does he shy away from finding himself in the middle of a brouhaha. His exit as the BCCI chairman is no different. In what seemed like a fixed match, it was widely speculated, even before the actual appointment, that Roger Binny, part of India's World Cup winning team from 1983, would take over as the next chief at the annual general meeting (AGM).(October 18).

But it is not a peaceful handover of power, if the sound bites are anything to go by. Ganguly, as in the case of the Kohli fiasco last year, will not say anything helpful to clear the air himself.

Politics, which the Lodha committee had tried so valiantly to delineate the sport of cricket from, has once again reared its head. Allegations that Jay Shah would be continuing as the BCCI secretary for a second time while Ganguly was being denied that right simply because he is not aligned with the BJP did the rounds.

Meanwhile, Ganguly has confirmed that he intends to return to Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), where he has already served one term, claiming he had learnt a lot as an administrator and felt he had a lot more to contribute to his home state. But Mamata Didi is having none of Dada's ways, unless there is a proxy way at play.

Mamata Banerjee hinted at the obvious gripe when she spoke to reporters at the Kolkata airport. Amidst speculation that Binny would not be a popular choice to represent India at the International Cricket Council (ICC) and therefore that it was possible that Jay Shah would head both the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and also, the ICC in the near future, Banerjee demanded justice for Ganguly.

"He has been deprived. Why has he been deprived? What is his fault?" Mamata Banerjee raged. Then she added, "There are only one or two people who are entitled to go to the ICC. I will request the PM [Prime Minister]. My humble regards to the PM. Please take care that Sourav Ganguly must be allowed to contest the ICC election."

The BCCI had approached the Supreme Court with regard to bending the rules regarding the holding of a post, which has been cleared for both positions, that of the chairman and the secretary. But while Shah, who is the son of Amit Shah, the union home minister, is said to retain his post, Ganguly reportedly does not have the backing in numbers.

Banerjee raised that issue as well, "A court has cleared the way for a second term for Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah. But don't know why Amit Shah's son stays. I have nothing against him. But why leave out Sourav? The way he was unfairly left out, the only compensation is ICC. Others have gone from BCCI to ICC. I request the government not to take it vindictively or politically. He is not a political party member. Take a decision for cricket, for sports."

The problem with this rhetoric is that it has been bandied at convenience. Although the BCCI fought vociferously to claim its autonomy, the fact of the matter is that politics have deep roots in the sport and so does nepotism, even by proxy as is evident by the people occupying or recently dethroned from their respective posts.

Meanwhile, there is the matter of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup down under that is providing its own headlines for those who would care for action on the field.

If there is surprise that Sri Lanka's defeat at the hands of Namibia generated so much intense reaction, it has perhaps less to do with the fact of Sri Lanka's recent resurgence than the stinging fact that the team from the Emerald Isles managed to beat India to lift the recently concluded Asia Cup. Humble pie or revenge? A similar story might make the headlines next Sunday.

Taking nothing away from Namibia, their captain Eramus spoke effusively of how having back-to-back ICC Twenty20 World Cup editions really improved their skill and game exposure. Talking about how the game was more about bravado last year when they lost to Sri Lanka but did make it to the Super 12, he spoke about how the match ups against teams like New Zealand, Pakistan and India had given the team a real insight into the quality required at this level as well as the skill sets.

Although it is still early days in the tournament, their exhilarating victory is good news for the sport which has battled allegations of perpetuating incestuous relationships between the big league teams, accentuated even more during the pandemic. In the spirit of keeping the associates flag flying high, Scotland managed to cause another upset on the second day of the tournament when they beat two time Twenty20 World Cup champions, the West Indies.

However, while these results do make for an interesting round robin, the fact that the tournament is being hyped as beginning only when India take on Pakistan this coming Sunday, overshadowing even the Trans Tasmanian encounter between Australia and New Zealand on Saturday shows just how much the rest of the tournament and indeed the ICC's global development interests need these kind of results, particularly on days when the warm up matches took precedence on the broadcast network's main channels, cutting right to the heart of the matter of reality.

Much has been discussed about India's potential bugbears. The absence of Jasprit Bumrah might really hurt India's chances. But there was much cheer and jubilation in the way that his replacement performed in the first warm up match against Australia.

Although India set up a reasonable chase, Australia seemed to be cantering comfortably towards the target, particularly as the Australian skipper, Aaron Finch, made his bat do much of the talking. Even as it seemed this could end up being a rather facile win for the hosts, the cat was set amongst the pigeons by a flurry of wickets and the end hastened rather dramatically as Mohammad Shami, who last played for India a year ago, picked up a hat trick in the final over, as Australia stumbled in their chase, in the end losing by a margin of 6 runs. It was certainly enough to take away some of the blues of the Asia Cup and inject new hope of being favourites at the World Cup.

It is a stark contrast from a year ago when Virat Kohli's decision to announce that he would relinquish the captaincy at the end of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup edition in the UAE drew wild reactions and speculation, not to mention gloom. While the Kohli versus Ganguly/BCCI drama became an all too familiar subject last year, watching a happy Kohli enjoying with the crowd and with his team mates as he aided in two decisive dismissals in the Australian innings told quite the different story.

From suggestions that Kohli's form was simply not good enough to be picked for the World Cup to now finding himself integral to the team's chances to lift the trophy for the first time in a decade and a half is an undisputed fact. However, nothing will shut his detractors unless he scores heavily with the bat. His affinity with Australia should come to his rescue on that front, although in the world of Twenty20, nothing is guaranteed.

Speaking of guarantees, that players like Jasprit Bumrah are now sidelined by injury has once again raked up the debate over whether it is the workload that is taking a toll and whether players are at free will to say no to certain assignments. Kapil Dev, the former Indian captain who led the team to victory in the 1983 World Cup, boomed once more that players should learn to say no to the Indian Premier League if the demands of the game are becoming too much for them, reiterating yet again that playing for one's country is the ultimate honour which players should aim for.

While the former captain has a legitimate reason to want to see young boys speak for themselves, there are considerable question marks about how much the players can have a free input on matters besides the obvious financial lure, with the BCCI heavily invested in the IPL. Even as India's fanatic fans were quick to berate Bumrah over his omission from India's World Cup squad and suggested he should only play in the IPL, the larger question remains pushed under the carpet at the moment even as India cannot afford to field any excuses, not after their last World Cup debacle.

While South Africa were desperate to pick up points in India to qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup in the bilateral one day international series, having forfeited their matches against Australia to promote their own new Twenty20 league in January next year, the better part of the Indian squad had packed up to arrive early in Australia.

The acclimatisation process might have come in handy, as shown in the first warm up match. But as Finch said, World Cups are not won in practice matches. A lot will tell when India starts to sink their teeth into the business side of the tournament, heading first into a neighbourly bout with Pakistan.

Never before has the spotlight been this acute on Rohit Sharma in particular who will have a lot to answer for if India do not go far, since Kohli's lack of trophies is the hunchback on which the BCCI overrode popular sentiment and even drew adverse reaction in the manner of treatment of players and sport.

Although the BCCI are presently focused on the turf wars in the boardroom, much also has been laid on the cricket pitch over the past 12 months in that regard as well, throwing one captain overboard in favour of another. The 22 yards down under could well tell the story that decides the result of Ganguly and Shah's tetchy tenure as well as speculate on the BCCI's functioning which will be put to the test on the cricket field and in the boardroom.