The growing spat between Shashank Manohar and N. Srinivasan yet again reveals the grisly underbelly of Indian cricket, but two uplifting events on Friday helped restore my mood: war-ravaged Afghanistan qualified for the 2015 World Cup and resource-hit Rajasthan Royals stormed into the final of the Champions League.
The growing spat between Shashank Manohar and N. Srinivasan yet again reveals the grisly underbelly of Indian cricket, but two uplifting events on Friday helped restore my mood: war-ravaged Afghanistan qualified for the 2015 World Cup and resource-hit Rajasthan Royals stormed into the final of the Champions League. Though played out in different countries and hardly of the same importance, these two events were bound together by a common thread; of the triumph of the underdog in great adversity which always makes for a heart-warming story. Consider Rajasthan’s plight going into the Champions League. Hit hard by the spot-fixing controversy which erupted during the previous IPL season and had also sucked in the part-owners, the team were four players — all bowlers — short. Two of these bowlers who copped bans of various periods were spinners, always important in Indian conditions. True, in Shane Watson they had arguably the world’s leading all-rounder, but this was a handicap they were running. And how brilliantly they’ve run! It can be argued that the itinerary favoured them in the sense that Rajasthan played all their matches in Jaipur, their home ground. But that does not take into account the pressure and tribulations of the players, especially captain Rahul Dravid. It hardly needs emphasising that Rajasthan’s success over the past six years owes a great deal to captains. There can be no two more contrasting personalities than Shane Warne and Dravid — one an extrovert, the other an introvert — but both have one thing in common: the ability to get the best out of their players. This is Dravid’s last season in cricket and I am surely not the only one rooting for a last hurrah from him in Sunday’s final. That’s because of his endearing cricketing persona. His commitment and gentlemanly demeanour have enriched the game for two decades. Hopefully good guys can finish on top too. That said, Afghanistan’s entry into the 2015 World Cup is the story with greater ramifications for the sport. Thirteen years back in 2001, when the Afghan Cricket Federation was born, it was the butt of some cluck-cluck sympathy and a lot of camouflaged derision. Fighting a war both within and outside, it seemed improbable that Afghanistan could sustain its interest in the sport. But what was even more astonishing that the Afghans were playing cricket at all for they had no culture, tradition or infrastructure to speak of. Afghanistan’s rapid progress is instructive to lovers and administrators of cricket. Clearly there is talent beyond just the usual 10-12 suspects that play the game. But the passion in such countries has to be nurtured assiduously so that the gospel of cricket can go further. That the Afghan cricket administration has a grievance against other cricket countries (barring Pakistan) for not being 'helpful’ enough is a telling reminder, especially to India, of the responsibility that comes with power. Indeed the BCCI, with the resources at its command, should be the leading votary in extending the horizons of cricket. Alas, currently it seems embroiled in a self-created vortex of controversy, invidious politics and blame-games that are sullying its image, what with former president Manohar now firing salvos at current boss Srinivasan for not owning up moral responsibility in the IPL spot-fixing scandal. Coming as this does on the eve of the Supreme Court hearing of the Cricket Association of Bihar petition (on October 7), this does not bode well for the current president who has just got a one-year extension without executive charge yet. My issue, however, is why do the skeletons keep tumbling out of the BCCI cupboard long after the problem has occurred Whether it is the charges against Lalit Modi in the past or Srinivasan now, how come so many big-wigs privy to the (alleged) misdemeanours keep mum But then in the tug and pull of power-politics, it is 'timing, rather than rightfulness of purpose that perhaps matters more.
