Is Team India Playing for India or BCCI?
My apologies to the readers first off, sports and India were synonymous to India in the 50's through 70's, perhaps early 80's, however, with the advent of cricket becoming mainstream, and a whole bunch of viewers it has gradually become a business! Hence this post!
Being a kid growing up in the 60's, we were in awe of all the greats in this sport, bet it the Noob (Mansur Ali Khan), Prassana, Sunny, Bedi, Viswanath, Hanumanth Singh, Wadekar, Sardesai, Mohinder Amarnath, Chandra, BS Bedi ML Jaisimha, Venkat, Desai, ; can name a few more, but my memory fades, and we were kids then, and then some of our own age group with whom we had the privilege to play or know got there, Kapil Dev, Sandeep Patil, Dilip V, Sandeep Patil, Kris Srikkanth, Rogers Binny, Madanlal, Karsan, Anshuman Gaekwad, Yashpal Sharma etc. Btw, the princely sum paid by the state boards may have been 400/- INR per game in the 70's.
What is happening here is a travesty with respect to playing cricket for India. In Anil Kumble, I will not find a more sincere person with fire, passion and honesty that wanted India to succeed!; he has been through several trails, he is cool, and is focused; who would bowl with a fractured jaw? Why fault him? This is the fault of GOI, and BCCI, fix it!
My sincere request is to figure out a mechanism, "playing for India is playing for India, that is all". Play by all means, the India team players are great, but do not confuse the two, playing for India is key, and playing for BCCI is OK!, please note that BCCI is not above India, period!; BCCI cannot and should not call the shots here. that is all! In the US, and other nations, playing inter-nationals is segregated from playing other tournaments, unfortunately in cricket in India or worldwide it is majorly grey!
If not, let BCCI, get its own grounds, its own security, and say it plays for BCCI only, and not delude the public! Meanwhile, there has to be a via media, and there has to be a way to ensure that all past cricketers are taken care off! They were our pride, you win some and you loose, but not in the current facade of so called delusion! Why past, because they were part of the same system sans benefit, they could not distinguish between playing for BCCI or India; please change the policy, and give cricketers the freedom and underline a key fact! Play for the country or opt out!
I am really disappointed at the way Anil Kumble has been treated! If not, all of this half baked measures have no meaning!
Happy to take any flack :-) An India Cricket Fan! Do not want any manipulation or subterfuge! That is all!
Director(Online Education & Skill Development)
7 年Now the cricket is not played for Country it is just played for money. It is complete commercial exploitation of emotions and madness of country people about cricket.
General Partner at Ventureast
7 年I am sure there are 2 sides or in this case multiple sides to the above incident, fact of the matter is BCCI is become a law unto itself, not realizing that without the support of people and the Govt. of India, they would not exist!
Guess we have to hear the other side of the story, but agree that Kumble deserved better.
General Partner at Ventureast
7 年Play to win, do not whine!
Appears that two high achievers failed to unite as one. think of similar clashes in companies!!!! while cannot doubt what we have all seen of Kumble including his commitment and dedication for Indian cricket, still not sure that Virat and company is at fault; they could be, but cannot say for sure unless we get to hear/know their side of the story.