Finally Ravi Shastri has been appointed the India cricket team coach. One cannot say that the process was ‘fixed’ but one can safely assume that it was ‘arranged’. The difference between the two words is that apparently due process was followed. However, the appointment of Ravi Shastri was a foregone conclusion. What with Sunil Gavaskar making the right noises once it was known that Anil Kumble was on his way out and that Shastri was being thought about. There is no doubt that Shastri has the right credentials for the job. Added to that he gets along well with the players given that he has had a stint of team director before Kumble took over as the coach. But the entire process of decision making though it is made out that they have gone by the rules smacks of the working of an Old Boy’s Club. Consistent with this premise Ravi Shastri’s task as coach seems to be constrained by the appointment of Rahul Dravid as the batting and Zaheer Khan as the bowling consultants. Then what is left in cricket, only fielding for which surely Bangar will be roped in. So what does Shastri actually then do as coach? In an Old Boy’s Club everybody is accommodated to keep them happy and then if someone becomes disgruntled, then with a wink and a nudge they are asked to manage! Also deferring the decision of the coach appointment by a day as Ganguly explained so that the Committee could get the captain Virat Kohli’s views is rather new. Since when have captains been consulted about coach appointments? Some years ago the captain had no say even on team composition and had to go in with the playing eleven chosen by the selectors. But like they say times, they are changin’!
The fact that BCCI is an Old Boy’s Club has been brought home many a time to the discerning thinkers that follow the game of cricket in India. Otherwise we would not have a Committee of Administrators managing it at the present time. You scratch my back and I will scratch yours, is the common rule that is followed in the BCCI. Ramachandra Guha, one of the members of the above CoA, realised at the point of his resigning from the Committee when he raised issues of conflict of interest of some of the ex-cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar, Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid among others. These personages don different hats for the BCCI while at the same time involving themselves in the IPL and their own commercial interests leading to questions of insider trading like situations and playing favourites to further their own interests in the choice of players etc. When Guha came out with his missive to the CoA spelling out his views in these matters, it was Gavaskar who took umbrage since he felt that he was always doing the right thing and in the interest of Indian cricket. But he forgot that there could be other interpretations to his work or that others may not see it the same way as he sees it. Thus Guha’s long letter of resignation rocked the boat but the effect was minimal. Dravid the gentleman that he is and as reported in the press, was the first to give up his IPL roles and remain satisfied with his assignment as the coach for the India U-19 team, a BCCI position. Otherwise nothing has changed at the Old Boy’s Club. There was a Guha ripple but things have settled down to the old normal since he is done and gone.
What one feels is that the Old Boys at BCCI are just biding their time until the CoA runs out of steam or members whichever is earlier and they can come back to the driver’s seat and run their fiefdoms as they please.
