THE KNIVES will no doubt be out for captain MS Dhoni and his band of knaves who have fallen in abject surrender before the English in the two Tests played so far, with two more still to go.
The very media that had talked up the team’s chances to the skies and beyond will no doubt spend reams of print and hours of television talk time dissecting just why this team never had it in them justify their Number 1 status in Test cricket.
While Team SportzPower is admittedly among the laity when it comes to the finer nuances of cricket, what we do have a view on is about the role the game’s custodian in India – the BCCI – has had to play in this whole sorry saga.
And the root of the problem is without doubt the programmes and processes (or the distinct lack of it) that the Indian board has instituted to preserve and protect its key players.
It doesn’t take rocket science to identify who have been the key architects of India’s recent rise the Test rankings.
Among the batsmen there is Virendra Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir (in that order).
On the bowling front, the key has obviously been Anil Kumble but with him retired and gone there is Zahir Khan and a motley crew of bowlers who have individually done well in fits and starts. The three medium pacers – Ishant Sharma, S Sreesanth and Praveen Kumar – who are currently doing duty in England are pretty much the pick of the current crop.
And finally there is MS Dhoni, India’s man with the Midas touch who has led the charge as far as India’s glorious run of the past few years is concerned.
The question that needs to be asked really is this. What has the BCCI done by way of ensuring the longevity of its “Crown Jewels”? Precious little. And the key reason really being that its cash cow – the Indian Premier league – takes precedence over all else.
It is not due to the BCCI’s wisdom that the best players on view for India since the team went to the Caribbean and then on to England are Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. It is all down to the fact that the precious duo do not figure in India’s Twenty20 and ODI mainframe.
And by the same coin it is no coincidence that India’s injury woes can be sourced to stars like Virendra Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Zahir Khan making themselves available for the IPL despite carrying niggles that required R&R.
The general assumption is that the players were willing to risk their bodies for the lure of the lucre and if that was indeed the case it is really irresponsible on the part of the players to have taken such a shortsighted (and dim witted) view on the matter.
Still, the big question really is what pressure was brought to bear on the likes of Gambhir (the highest value player in terms of sale price in the second IPL auction) and his ilk to “justify the price” paid for them by the franchises.
And the even bigger question is how are the IPL players’ contracts framed? Though this is a matter which is out of the purview of the public at large, going by the manner in which the BCCI rides roughshod over anything and everything where its interests are at stake, it would surprise no one if the contracts that Indian players have to sign on to gives them zero say and zero rights in the matter.
And there could well hang the real tale.
