The Board’s monopoly has to be broken

Having gained complete market share, the BCCI has become complacent and inefficient

May 18, 2013 03:35 am | Updated November 16, 2021 08:26 pm IST

Cricket in India is going through its normal routine, trying to push another scandal under the carpet. While as a cricket-loving people we remain disgusted with the lethargic manner in which we handle corruption, we should be proud of the Delhi police for taking action, although against a few minnows.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India should have taken a harsher stance and brought the police into the picture many years ago.

But it has become lethargic and chose not to. There is a reason for this lethargy. Monopoly does that to any institution.

Absolute control

Without any competition, the BCCI has absolute control over cricket and it has the powers to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it. Having gained complete market share, the BCCI has become complacent and less efficient, allowing match-fixing to seep into the very foundation of the game in India.

Had the cricketing giant — BCCI — moved decisively when we were first hit by the match-fixing drama, and cleaned up its own house, then we would not have come to where we have.

Without any fear of reprisal the players continued to foray into the world of corruption, and when the police stepped in there was chaos.

The police were not expected to, for they had not done so earlier with bigger fish. Why now?

There is only one solution to this mess. The BCCI’s monopoly over Indian cricket has to be broken. Also, when a cricketer plays for the BCCI, he plays for a club, not for his country.

The team has no official sanction from the Government to allow it to be called Team India.

It’s just that the team has Indians and is selected from India, and it automatically gets the incredible backing of 1.2 billion people. Having got this undying support, it goes without saying that the Board should stay on top of things at all times by remaining transparent and proactive.

Monopoly

And this is not going to happen, for that’s problem with monopoly. This is why it becomes all the more important for India to create a parallel body and set up another cricketing system. The Government of India is by far the best equipped to do so.

It’s time the Government of India invested in the sport and had a team of its own, selected through a process that is completely free from the existing one. Let this team comprise solely amateurs who play for the love of the game and not for money.

These players will then represent India and wear the Indian colours. They will be bound by nationalism to perform to their best of ability.

Nepotism, politics and the odd bad egg will be present everywhere. But once the Government is able to deliver a team that is selected solely from a talented pool of amateurs who play cricket for the love of the game and not for money as today’s professionals do, the chances are that the moral fabric of this beautiful game will be reinstated.

Professionals and amateurs should be segregated and Team India should be selected by a Government agency from the latter. To me it matters little if this team loses every game it plays, for finally we will have a team that we can proudly claim is ours.

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