MUMBAI: “With great power there must also come great responsibility” – the Peter Parker principle, from Spider-Man. In the case of the people who presumably matter in the BCCI’s power corridors however, they seem to work under an altogether different notion: “With great power there must also come great irresponsibility”.
“Asia Cup cancel ho chuka hai, joh September me tha (Asia Cup, which was to be held in September, has been cancelled),” BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said Wednesday in an Instagram live session with Vikrant Gupta on the ‘Sports Tak’ webinar.
Seriously? The BCCI president chooses an Instagram chat session to go public on a decision that protocol (and basic common courtesy) demands SHOULD be made by the Asian Cricket Council, which is the body that organises the tournament.
The platform Ganguly chose to make his declaration perfectly encapsulates not just the lack of governance norms that prevail in the BCCI, but also that the Indian cricket board’s top brass are convinced that money power is the be all and end all as far as the relationship they choose to maintain, not just with enemy no. 1 Pakistan, but also the likes of more positively inclined countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury had this to say to Cricbuzz when asked for a response to Ganguly’s “announcement”, though he insisted he was not in a position to offer any comment about the former India captain’s pronouncements: “As far as I am concerned ACC management is working on Asia Cup 2020. They are also exploring other options if the tournament cannot be hosted on scheduled time.” No surprises here that Chowdhury offered a nuanced response. That is but how it should be.
Now this is not to imply that the Asia Cup WILL NOT be cancelled. The indications are that this will indeed be the case. But only that it behooves the head of Asia’s and the world’s richest and most powerful cricket board to conduct himself in a manner befitting of the position he holds.
All things considered, the riposte to Ganguly’s off the cuff comments by Samiul Hasan Burney, media director of the Pakistan Cricket Board, which also has the host rights for this edition of the Asia Cup are quite in order (though it will likely result in apoplectic responses from the more nationalistic elements of Indian media). Burney told Cricket Pakistan: “The statements made by Sourav Ganguly have no impact on proceedings. Even if he passes comments every week, they do not hold weight or merit. The decision regarding the Asia Cup will be taken by the ACC. The announcement can only be made by the president of the Asian body Nazmul Hasan. To the best of our knowledge, the schedule of the next ACC meeting is yet to be announced.”
Staying with the subject, another example of the penchant BCCI’s top brass has of loose talking: Recently, a BCCI official stated that New Zealand Cricket have joined the UAE and Sri Lanka in the race to host this year’s IPL if it is shifted out of India because of the coronavirus pandemic.
When New Zealand Cricket spokesperson Richard Boock was asked about it, this is what he had to say: “The report is simply speculation. We have not offered to host the IPL nor have we had an approach to do so.”
The NZC spokesperson has directly refuted said BCCI official but will that make him (or any other worthy among BCCI’s top brass) think twice next time the desire to shoot from the lip strikes? Not likely.
That in a nutshell is the BCCI for you. Talk about throwing good money after bad administrators. The game’s stakeholders (including the Indian media which is more often than not complicit) can either like it or lump it. It won’t make a jot of difference to anyone who matters in the BCCI.
