Instead of getting reformed, Indian cricket seems to be heading for more chaos. First came the shocking information that Virat Kohli is having problems with Anil Kumble, and then Ramachandra Guha quit as member of the panel of administrators appointed by Supreme Court.
It is nothing short of a miracle — in this age and time, when it is extremely difficult to escape media scrutiny — that the world did not know that Virat was having problems with the coach. Hard to believe that this could be true, especially given that Indian cricket has done so well in the one year, these two have been together and expressed nothing but praise for each other. However, the sad fact is that the rift between the two is not a figment of the TRP-seeking media and has now become a greater soap opera than the impending India-Pakistan Champions Trophy clash.
Why BCCI officials or the CoA did not intervene and sort out this issue, which could have been even minor in nature, while the IPL was being played, is baffling. Ego clashes if left unheeded can explode and destroy the very foundations of an edifice that has taken a long time to build. Are the repercussions of this tiff going to be serious, or can the relationship between the two still be mended so that it does not leave Indian cricket badly bruised?
BCCI playing coach game
It is strange that the BCCI chooses to deny any story of a rift and yet we find a stalwart like Virender Sehwag applying for the coach's job. Can anyone believe that Sehwag has thrown his hat in the ring without the backing of the board? Doesn’t one of the most powerful board officials, who many consider the voice of N Srinivasan, belong to Haryana, where Sehwag sought refuge in the last year of his playing career? All this points to a thought-out strategy, where media leaks are painting Kumble as the target of Kohli’s ire and the world knows that in the case of captain-coach differences, normally the captain’s say prevails. That too in a country like India, where players are treated like gods, superstars who can do no wrong.
Where does Guha fit in this squabble, which does no credit to Indian cricket? The detailed letter in which he explained the reasons for his resignation, makes it clear that he was unhappy with the manner in which the CoA was handling the mandate it had got from the Supreme Court.
He has raised a lot of concern over the conflict of interest that is so widespread in the board, with a number of top cricketers — former and present — involved, and wanted something to be done about it. One should not forget that the root cause of the board’s problems stemmed from this conflict of interest that the then BCCI chief Srinivasan was mired in. In his letter, Guha refers to some of the greatest players India has produced. One is Sunil Gavaskar, who is a BCCI commentator and head of a players’ management company, and the others are Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.
There may have been other issues as well, the more pressing ones being to get cracking in implementing Lodha reforms and not get too involved with running day to day affairs. The CoA did not set a good example by being visible on IPL prize distribution platforms that should have been left to the BCCI officials or former players. And then the Kumble issue. Guha expressed unhappiness over the manner in which this issue has been handled and his position in favour of extending Kumble’s tenure without seeking applications for the job till 2019.
His contention was that an India captain shouldn’t have so much power that he can not only decide who the coach should be, but even get rid of a commentator from the studios just because he and some players don’t like his criticism. If there were differences between the coach and captain, it should have been sorted out in advance and not left to surface on the eve of an important tournament.
Guha, who has his own reputation and integrity to protect, must have thought the best thing to do is to dissociate himself from the goings on. An honourable thing to do, given that the much promised reforms are nowhere in sight.