shok Malhotra, the cricketer who in the early eighties promised to reinvent the muscular and wristy elegance of Gundappa Viswanath through his classy stroke-play, is ready today to perform in a new challenging role, as president of the newly formed Indian Cricket Players’ Association.Someone who performed with distinction for almost three decades in first-class cricket, playing over 150 matches and scoring nearly 10,000 runs, represents the sum and substance of what an Indian cricketer goes through in the backdrop of its more glamorous world of international cricket. He is part of the bone and marrow which comprises the spine that keeps Indian cricket kicking and alive on the bigger stage.
Malhotra was elected unanimously to a body formed after the Lodha reforms mandated that players should find their voice and representation in decision-making in the Indian board. Around 1500 cricketers across India are its members, which also voted for Anshuman Gaekwad to represent them in the nine-member Apex Council. A players’ body and its representation with a voting voice in the BCCI was something that was resented by the cricket administration in India for long, but with the Supreme Court stepping in, they have no choice but to accept it.
From what has transpired so far, it is clear that the board is still reluctant to accept the new reality, busy as they still are in trying to dilute some of the stipulations of the reforms, be it the cooling-off period or the powers that vest with the apex body. Malhotra, who was once a senior selector as well, and may have been hoping to fly off the ground running, has been unable to move even a step or two forward. The Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI is all too busy in extending its own power and control over the board and mounting a fresh challenge in the courts to regain the authority they enjoyed before the court stepped in.
Malhotra, whose formative years were spent in Chandigarh, and who was the backbone of the Haryana Ranji Trophy team till he shifted base to Bengal, has a long wish list, most of which comprises improving the financial status of hundreds of first-class cricketers playing the game. Be it raising pensions, better playing conditions, creating a proper system of recruiting coaches, physios for Ranji teams and a host of other issues which will crop up from time to time, Malhotra is ready with his demands but is not sure what the mechanism would be for redressing them.
Right now the major concern is funds and how will they run the association? The Lodha reforms make it clear that the BCCI will fund the association, which will not function as a players’ union but more like a part of the board to resolve all issues in unison and amicably.The association representatives have met board president Ganguly and secretary Jay Shaw, and sought clarity on financial matters and other concerns.
Malhotra, who was a key member of the Bengal team when Ganguly made his Ranji debut in 1990 and later coach of the team when the Ganguly was planting his first footprints on Indian cricket, has great hopes from the new board president. “He is a players’ man, and has strived to improve their lot and now being the head of the board, he understands our issues better than most.” Malhotra’s problem right now is that there is no clarity on how much money the board will allot them so that they can function as a unit.
For reasons best known to the board, the Apex Council, the board’s main decision-making body where the two players’ representatives, Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy, will put forward their views, is yet to meet. This is no surprise as the board right now is busy defying the court’s verdict and wants to make the Apex Council more or less redundant. For Malhotra it is like being dressed up and ready, with nowhere to go.