My Take on the Working Committee meeting decisions.

Wow.. Another world cup, another POST-CUP BCCI meeting and it was expected to be one filled with the aromas of the samosas and the chaai s. Although much was expected from the meeting, there was a feeling that nothing much would come out of it. But to the surprise of many, if the decisions that have been made in the Working committee meeting are carried out, then we are in for some good times for the Indian cricket, in general.

Ofcourse, some of the decisions are those which are normally taken every now and then, but they are just that. They are those which , had it been followed , would have done India lot of good but which have only been in paper and not in action. But it would be good if this time, after such a disastrous world cup, they are taken seriously and acted upon. The ones that come under this category involve preparing live pitches, making sure that the international players play the Domestic games and some more on these lines. These are some of the items which would be present on the agenda of every BCCI working committee meeting, but not much has been done to improve the state of the pitches or for that matter, the state of domestic cricket.

It is particularly interesting and heartwarming to see the item about the zonal representation of the Selectors. I have always felt that the zonal representation of the selectors would do no good for the Cricket as it would only increase the regional bias of the selectors. The zonal selector has to go back to the states they represent and the boards of those states and the affiliation to the state boards takes precedence as far as the selection of the marginal players are concerned. Now, the decision to scrap the Zonal representation in the selection committees and to appoint people with credibility based on their qualification as a player and a selector makes it look more professional. To give them a 2 year contract and have a remuneration makes them accountable. Going forward, the selectors will not be doing a honorary job but a job which is paying them and for which they would have to do justice. Hopefully, this would clear the selection system of the evils which has killed the careers of many aspiring upstarts who then become seniors in their respective state side, become leaders and become mentors and fade out into the horizon without even getting a shot at the international recognition.

The other interesting point that has come out of this meeting and which has an even bigger impact on Indian cricket is the decision to improve the Under 19 and the A team tours. These tours play a key role as they throw out the futre Sachins, Dravids and Souravs. We watch in awe as men after men come and adorn the Australian colours and perform. Their bench strength is amazing and they have a very good domestic structure to back their National team. We can definitely improve our bench strength if we have tours for the under 19s and the Indian team hopefuls to tour the different conditions in Australia, England and the other countries to play in the different pitches and conditions for them to be well prepared when they put on Team India colours. These tours are one area which has to be given utmost importance for the bench strength to improve.

The decision to put up a younger team to tour Bangladesh under an experienced captain is a welcome decision, simply for the fact that, Indian cricket will not be helped much by a full strength Indian team going to Bangladesh and scoring all those big hundreds. It would be worse if the full strength team loses in Bangladesh, for then, we would be in a position where we would know that the current players are no good but would not have the repository to fall back and pick a team. This team of young players will be a good pool to pick from , for the future tour to England.
Not much to say about the payment related decisions of the meeting as it would obscure the real point of discussion which is about developing Indian cricket and not about the bank accounts of the cricketers. It would be better to allow the players and the boards and the financial specialists to discuss this.

One item which caught my eyes immediately is the showcause notice to be sent to Sachin and Yuvraj on their report to the media and it would require lot more space to put my views on the merits and demerits of that decision and I would leave it to a later blog but by issuing the notice to Sachin, who carried India through his entire career but for the last couple of seasons and to yuvraj, probably the one who will carry India s batting through the next phase in Indian cricket, the BCCI Working committee has issued a stern statement that they are taking the media relations seriously and when it comes to Indian cricket, No one is bigger than Cricket itself.

Last but not the least is the decision to appoint Shastri as the interim manager and to have Prasad and Robin Singh as the bolwing and fielding coaches respectively. This seems to be a wonderful decision at the outset though we would have to wait for the execution and the results to fully contemplate the decision. Prasad and Robin are two people who have tremendous coaching experiences and we need not look beyond Robin for dedication. Here are two dedicated perfomers who, though not superstars in their own field, gave it all when it came to Cricket and made good use of the limited ability that they had. The Indian team would benefit a lot from having these two as coaches . For Ravi Shastri, well, he is one who has been there, seen it all. He has a good head on his shoulders, communicates well and has a good rapport with the seniors in the team. The seniors would respect him for his knowledge about the game and the juniors would respect him for his experience. He might not change anything big in the next three months, but he could be a starting point. He can lay the stones for the foundation.

Over all, it could prove to be very interesting three months leading upto the Bangladeshi tour and these three months can very well set the tone for the rest of the year.