There is a storm in Indian cricket and the flood waters are rising. Indian cricket is under siege and it is visible to all those that keep their eyes open. Not everyone does. Indian cricket has been one of the most astonishing brands in the world. It has had huge demand, huge investment but has at best shown average quality. It has brought society together, in celebration and in mourning, and brand loyalty has been unmatched, if a touch irrational. It has shown signs of a monopoly business and classically, in such businesses, the customer comes right down the bottom of the attention chain. He doesn’t count and that is why enlightened governments prevent monopolies. But, and that is why the world moves ahead, monopolies often crumble (unless customers are kept in bondage), brands invite competition, values and cultures change, so do priorities. Those that have a ear to the ground, those that are humble enough to look beyond themselves and those that adapt to changing times are those that survive. Those that do not respect the customer get a kick up the backside at some point. HMT and ECIL were competent monopolies, even they fell out in the face of competition. Rap music suffered, so did Bata. Even communism and the US dollar suffered with changing times, neither was believed possible for a very long time. The Japanese are struggling and Germany is stagnant. And West Indies cricket, once the symbol of pride and excellence, is in total decline. These are lessons Indian cricket either doesn’t want to look at or care about. India’s cricket fan is disillusioned and angry; that a review meeting occupied the undivided attention of India’s news channels is an indicator of decline, not promise. The channels were there to ridicule not to praise, the President’s press conference drew guffaws and sniggers, not applause and pride. India’s fan is shrugging his shoulders and saying “what is all this?”. These are not whispers, these are not little signs, these are giant billboards of disenchantment. You can see these signs and so can I but the BCCI can’t. There was a president vacationing in the midst of a hurricane and there is one now. But at least Katrina was followed by an attempt at damage control, Rita was better handled. The BCCI has done little. The saddest part was that Sourav Ganguly was asked to take back the copies of the statement he had brought for fear of a leak. In doing so the BCCI told all of us that they could not trust the most powerful man in their administration, their President and Secretary and three eminent cricketers! And yet the earlier leak, as damaging as letting the Trojan Horse in, and far more obvious, remains undetected. There is only that much the Indian cricket fan can withstand. Match fixing crippled him, poor performances disappointed him and now this farce played out with little remorse for the world to see. The world laughs at us, no it mocks us, but when hides are thick and love is thin, it matters little. That was the path many great brands, products and organisations took on their way to extinction. People that care, organisations that care, are worried about their image. Forcing Chappell and Ganguly to shut their eyes and pretend things did not happen is short-sighted. To believe there is only one path, even if that path is guaranteed to fail, is not to look far enough. This was a decision supposedly taken in the interests of Indian cricket. It is a bit like saying we will pour a bucket of water, rather than two tumblers, onto a giant blaze. The BCCI needs desperately to counter a decade’s worth of bad publicity. For this it needs to make reassuring statements, it needs to find the right people to work with, it needs to be presented in the best possible way to the Indian public. This is not about finances, it is not about committees, it is definitely not about court cases and adjournments. It is about humility. It is about showing the customer that they care. When companies are down, they rebuild on trust, sometimes they forge even stronger bonds with their customers by doing so. But at the height of this crisis, the BCCI is showing no remorse, presenting no apology, and effectively is turning its back on the cricket lover, telling him they don’t care for him. Only the mighty can be humble, the most arrogant are often the pettiest. In rising markets everybody makes money, in boom times everyone is a good marketer. The clever ones survive in a bear run, the humbler ones, those that have built relationships, can weather market downturns better. Within this misery lies an enormous opportunity for Indian cricket has been laid bare, its paltriness is exposed and therefore the world can see the corrections as well. This is the time to induct men of integrity into the selection committee, to have a permanent manager, to enter into a high quality television relationship, to apologise to the fan, reach out to him and earn his goodwill. It depends on which way you want to look; it depends on whether you care for Indian cricket.
