LONG term vision and planning has never been part of the BCCI’s lexicon.
Otherwise why would Indian Test cricket be at crossroads and why would India’s Twenty20 team be in some mess.
The BCCI’s lack of vision results in the fact that the Indian Test team has slipped, the Twenty20 team despite the odd win in Australia is slipping every time.
It all stems from the fact that the BCCI has no mission and there is no vision.
Let’s take the Twenty20 team for example. India runs one of the premier T20 domestic tournament, IPL and also runs an inter-state T20 tournament Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
But when selecting the National Twenty20 team, the selection panel chooses a One-Day International team to play T20 cricket.
This ODI team chosen for T20 games has players who are not athletic, cannot field and are one dimensional, essentially going against the grain of the format.
Why cannot the BCCI direct the selectors to choose a Twenty20 team which is entirely different from the ODI team. The BCCI needs to drive the engine to the destination rather than the selectors, because the five wise men are at the mercy of their paymasters.
The squad for Twenty20 games are chosen as an after thought and on long tours as a warm-up game before the one-day series starts.
This lackadaisical approach to the twenty20 format is nothing but shocking.
For a board caught in mess of its own creation every day, the least that can be expected is a stern message to the selectors that the Twenty20 team needs to be full of T20 specialists not of ODI stars.
Look at Cricket Australia/England and Wales Cricket Board/Cricket South Africa/New Zealand Cricket, since deciding that they need specialists for the T20 format, these `lesser’ boards have gone the extra mile.
They fly in even 10 players if required for a T20 series in as far away places as South Africa and New Zealand.
Surely the richest cricket board can afford to fly in players for a specific format. Can you imagine the players chosen for the two T20 games in Australia were those who were complete liabilities on the field.
The likes of Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan are brilliant individual talents, but in a T20 format a clear misfit on the field.
Australia/South Africa (ODI and T20) /England have separate T20 captains as well.
So much so Australia selectors also rewarded the best performers in the Big Bash with a place in the National T20 side.
With not one but two T20 tournaments, India still cannot shortlist its best players in the format. It is not just a failing of the selection panel but also of the system and the administration.
Contrast that with the Test format, we have been sure of our Test squad for more than a decade with just changes being made owing to retirements or injuries.
The recent reverses forced some to tar the selection panel with the blame that they don’t have vision or courage.
But the fact is unlike an English/South African/Australian selector an Indian selector cannot afford to have long-term vision.
They may now be a professional panel with an annual emoluments of close to Rs 40 lakh, they still have a two-year tenure.
What forward planning can you do in just two years. The player/coach stay longer, but the selector comes and goes. How can there be vision/mission of where you want to be in the Test arena when you are at the mercy of Board politics after two years?
It is so easy to blame the present selection panel for not making changes in the Test squad. But to their credit, this panel came just three years ago. And one from the original panel has already dropped out.
How can you blame the present panel for a systemic error?
In Australia/England, the selector is around for five to ten years, but in India, the September AGM fever consumes all vision and mission.
It is only fair that the selector has short-term view, rightly or wrongly.
For example why would Krish Srikkanth rock the boat now when his term ends this September.
Or a classic example of Kiran More in 2006, when his four year term was to end. As chief selector he had teamed up with Greg Chappell to shake things up.
But with just four months to go for the World Cup in 2007, More requested the board to give him a short-term extension since they had been planning well.
The BCCI invoked the September AGM rulebook and out he went.
So vision and mission keeps changing from September to September, if you are comfortable then join the gang or else stand by comment on national television till the cows come home.
