Rein in Twenty20 and BCCI bully!

By P.Muraleedharan

It is time the cricket world took a bold stand against the Twenty20 being given more importance at the cost of regular cricket. Also, against the way the International Cricket Council (ICC) acts as a handmaiden to the financial muscle of the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI). If this instant cricket, where Abhishek Nair (No slight intended to the Mumbai Indians all rounder) is compared to the great Sachin Tendulkar, is allowed to prosper, it would gorge on all other forms of cricket on its way and by the time its fizz evaporates, there would be neither test cricket, nor Twenty20! The empty stands at the Mohali stadium for the second test between India and Australia, of course, were a clear indication of the things to come.

Take the case of the ICL (Indian Cricket League). It has already wreaked havoc in two national teams-Pakistan and Bangladesh. Pakistan has banned 18 players who have joined the ICL and Bangladesh has banned 13 of them, for 10-long years! Lahore Badshahs and Dhaka Warriors have more quality players on their ranks than their respective national sides. It won’t be long before smaller cricket nations (In terms of talents and riches) such as Zimbabwe, Kenya and New Zealand fall for the money trap! It seems the Kerry Packer circus is back in a brand new avatar!

But, the crises in Pak and Bangla cricket could have been averted if the ICC had the gumption to stand up to the BCCI, and recognize the ICL. The BCCI, which runs the Indian Professional League (IPL), had successfully arm-twisted the Pak, Bangla national cricket bodies into toeing their line, so that aspiring players would not dare to join the ICL for fear of losing their chances to play for national sides (They cannot participate even in domestic matches!).

It is here that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) chairman Arjuna Ranatunga’s stand on the issue deserves respect from the cricket-loving fraternity. He points out that Sri Lanka was compelled to postpone their tour to England as its schedule clashed with season-2 of the IPL. (Their skipper, Mahela Jayawardene, and 12 other top players, including Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasurya and Chaminda Vaas have signed three-year contracts with the IPL.)

Arjuna is not one to be afraid of the money-might of the Indian cricket body. He, as the captain of the Sri Lankan team, had successfully pushed back the onslaught mounted by the Australians over the Muralitharan-controversy (Chucking!), has been a father figure in Lankan cricket, and is no pushover. Lifting of the domestic ban on five players including Marvan Atapattu, Russell Arnold and Upul Chandana is a sure sign that he means what he says.

Right now, the SLC cannot do anything to prevent their players from playing for IPL teams. As Ranatunga said, "If we get a directive from the minister of sports to release our top cricketers to play in a domestic cricket tournament in India, we have no right to question it."

Though Ranatunga’s main grouse is that the SLC does not get any money for releasing its players for the IPL, his words demand our attention. He says test cricket needs to be preserved and that the “first choice” of the players should be the national duty.

The former captain, who called the Twenty20 league as “instant noodles”, is naturally no favourite with the Indian cricket officialdom. But, his words have prompted a rethink in the Pak Cricket Board, it seems. The government would consider the case of the banned ICL players and would formulate a policy to resolve the crisis in consultation with the PCB, it is reported.

Lalit Modi, the chairman of the IPL and BCCI vice-president, whose allegedly high handed way of doing things is disliked by most of the cricket boards, says he is very “perturbed” by the accusations by Ranatunga, which are "totally unjustified". He is very unhappy with the failure of a high-level meeting between SLC and BCCI officials held at Bangkok to finalise a multi-million contract, due to Ranatunga’s strident stand, it is reported.

But, how does the BCCI handle such sensitive issues? By doing what they have been very successful at since Jagmohan Dalmiya’s time at the helm! By bludgeoning the opponents to submission! It is rumoured that the BCCI has conveyed to the SLC that they would talk to them only after Ranatunga is removed from their cricket board. And when the ICC asked them to talk to the ICL, the BCCI put a ‘simple’ precondition before the ICL authorities; just close down the ICL, and talks would follow!

The ICC, as servile as ever to the BCCI, has made it clear that they won’t even mediate in the tussle between the ICL and the IPL. With the frustrated former powers in the ICC such as ACB and ECB already looking for ways to curb the overarching clout of the Indian cricket board, a grouping of the Asian cricketing nations against them is the last thing that the BCCI needs. In their manic greed for moolah, would they have time enough to ponder over the consequences?

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