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CoA approving own trip to England doesn’t come as a surprise

Veturi Srivatsa

Even as the national selectors get ready to announce India’s World Cup squad on Monday, BCCI administrators have quietly cleared their own trips to watch the mega event. Only captain Virat Kohli and deputy Rohit Sharma are firm that IPL performances shouldn’t be considered for selection. But MSK Prasad was cautious, saying that it will not have “too much of a bearing”. The question posed by many is: how can a team for the 50-over event be selected on the basis of performances in a 20-over one? Both Kohli and Rohit apparently feel that the team should be selected on performances over the last two years, if not four.

To put their argument simply: form is temporary but class is permanent. In that case, the last three ODI series — in Australia and New Zealand, and the former’s tour of India — should be taken into account. As Rohit smartly put it, it is for Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri to decide whether they need an extra pacer, spinner or a batsman as per conditions. Weather charts predict that it may not be all that dry, like the 2017 Champions Trophy.

The showing of top stars in this IPL has been a big disappointment, and that includes Rohit. KL Rahul (not a certainty for World Cup), Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni have done exceedingly well. Among bowlers, Mohammed Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal have nine wickets each. There was a flutter when it was reported that Rohit was injured during training, which made him miss Mumbai Indians’ match against Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday. 

Tongues wagged more since he had returned from a major injury last year. But it was clarified that he was rested only as a precaution.With CoA exercising its authority, board officials need its clearance to go for any official meeting overseas, or club it to watch India playing matches around that time. There have been instances when travel plans were scuttled or curtailed.

Lo and behold, CoA members, according to a media report, have cleared their own World Cup trip at the board’s expense. Nothing wrong with it. Just as the board takes its officials whenever India go on a big tour, the officials usually go in batches.There was a time in the late 80s and 90s when the board went to foreign tournaments like the Desert Safari in Sharjah, and Toronto. India and Pakistan played with dozens of officials from both boards enjoying the hospitality of Abdul Rahman Bukhatir — the man who brought cricket to the Gulf — and the promoters of the Canadian charade.

Who clears CoA members’ trip to England? Do they have to go to the Supreme Court since they report to it? Or, is it a case of CoA clearing the board officials and vice-versa.
This junket culture is not peculiar to only CoA or board members. Come Olympics, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) will take a big contingent to Tokyo. For the more powerful, it’s an all-paid holiday for their families too.

Add to the list ministers and officials connected to sport. Ev­ery Secretary, Department of Sports, and Director General of Sports Authority of India and some officials working with them get to watch one Olympics, Asian Games or Commonwealth Games. Then there are government delegations from the Centre and the st­ates. They include a couple of former international athletes to give the contingent some respectability. Some of them get he­fty allowances to enjoy the trip.The heads of the delegations are supposed to submit a report on the Games to help the Centre and state governments formulate sports policies and create infrastructure. Not one report is made public unless there is a major controversy or goof-up.

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