The BCCI has ruled out any investigation into the setbacks suffered by the Indian team in England. It believes that the team will bounce back and is capable of regaining its top position in Test cricket.
“The direction in which the BCCI is going is already settled. I think our cricket team has achieved all that's possible on the field.
“A few months ago they were heroes of the world; they won the ICC Cricket World Cup. They were also the No. 1 Test team in the world. Yes, we have had one bad and disappointing series, but that does not mean that we can dump the team.
“They deserve all support. The BCCI does not support the view that too much cricket is being played by the Indian team. Except a few players, the others don't play all the three versions of the game.
“We have also taken stock of the number of days of cricket played by other countries. Overall there's not much of a difference. In any case it's not the same team for the three versions of the game.
“The players who did play all the three versions were not the ones who got injured. The team has not done as well as it was expected to. We believe that this team will bounce back,'' said N. Srinivasan, in the course of a press conference soon after taking charge as president of the BCCI here on Monday.
He further said that he doesn't like to lose at all. “The BCCI cannot wait to get back to the top spot. But we have not formed any committee to investigate the team's performance in England.
“We recognise the fact that the tour did not go as well as we had planned and expected because of a combination of factors. If one looks at it (the tour) we did not have our best team together right from the start.
“Several players were injured. So it happens… victory and defeat are imposters. We must have faith in the team and we want to win. We have achieved the position of being No. 1, there's no reason we should not do it again.''
Mr. Srinivasan said the BCCI was not convinced about the hot-spot technology and is against the use of DRS in any form in the future.
Excerpts from the media conference:
Injury management of the team : We have an excellent facility at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) Bangalore. In the event of niggles and injuries contracted even Ranji players can go there and undergo rehabilitation.
The fitness of all the players is checked before they are selected. We get a report from the NCA before a selection committee meeting. And no player is selected without being cleared by the NCA.
If the players get injured in the field or while training, there's little we (BCCI) can do. We must bear in mind that we had an extraordinary season when a lot of players got injured. It's not as if the BCCI is not conscious of injury management and it doesn't have a system in place.
We have told the physio and the selectors that we want transparency and honesty with regard to injury to players. In the last three years, players laid low by injuries have not been able to get selected. We have also informed the IPL teams that the BCCI has to be informed about injury to players during the tournament.
IPL focus allegation : The BCCI is focused on domestic cricket as well as the performance of the Indian team. The IPL is an important property of the BCCI, but it's not that the BCCI's focus is on the IPL alone, it's to the contrary. I think at all times we see how we can improve the basic skills in cricket and domestic cricket.
Decision Review System : We did not believe in the ball tracking technology at all, but the BCCI is not averse to technology. Therefore at the last ICC meeting in Hong Kong, we agreed to a minimum usage of the DRS, including hot-spot, but we said ‘No' to ball tracking and pitch mat, etc.
We were under the impression that hot-spot was really good; but the accuracy of the hot-spot was there for everybody to see (during the England series). The BCCI will raise the issue at the next ICC meeting. We want to revisit it.
We feel that hot-spot is insufficient technology to base a decision on and therefore we would request for it to be revised. We do not wish to use DRS in its present form to even a minimum standard.
This is the position we will take. The outgoing president, Shashank Manohar, has already raised the issue at the ICC board meeting and I will be raising the issue again.
No gag on Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri : There's no clause forbidding them to talk against the BCCI. We don't believe in gagging anyone. Not every report is complimentary about the BCCI, in fact it's more weighted against the BCCI.
We do not take it amiss, it's something you all write. We have no issues at all. The BCCI is here to run the game of cricket. We are not here to be popular. If there's constructive criticism we make a conscious effort to improve.
Indian team's absence at the ICC Annual Awards and Sundar Raman being asked to attend the ICC meeting : The ICC sent an invitation to Shashank Manohar and to me. Neither of us was able to go to England. Specific invitations were not given to the Indian team.
There were inquiries from the ICC a few days before the event to know if the Indian team would attend. But I would presume that if you want to invite the team, there has to be specific invitations to Dhoni and the team or a request to the BCCI to ask its team to be present at the function.
On September 11 at Lord's someone from the ICC went to the Indian dressing room and invited the team and by that time I think the players had decided on other things; it was the penultimate match.
It's the prerogative of the BCCI to decide on who should attend ICC meetings. Sundar Raman is an accomplished person and chief operating officer of the IPL. He has sufficient knowledge, experience and can articulate BCCI' s point of view.
India-Pakistan cricket : There's nothing on the table at the moment.
Sourav Ganguly to head technical committee : Sunil Gavaskar has resigned as chairman of the technical committee. He's written a nice letter. Our intention is to appoint Sourav Ganguly chairman of this committee. I have to obtain his consent. I hope he will accept it.
Ajay Maken's sports bill : The BCCI has already expressed its view through Arun Jaitley at a meeting convened by the sports minister. The Union Cabinet has asked the minister to rework the bill. The BCCI will respond when that takes place.
