FEBRUARY 26: The Board wanted Mohammed Azharuddin and Nayan Mongia back and if Sachin Tendulkar-Kapil Dev were going to be the hurdles, then the message was clear: Take it or leave it. Individuals are not bigger than the game and if a few are going to dictate terms, they need to be cut down to size. True, but in this case, one is really not sure who was playing what game and finally who benefitted - the team, the individuals involved or the Board?Now, a few months later, the same selectors decide that Azharuddin is so important for Indian cricket, that no matter what the consequences, he and Mongia have to be back in the team. Sure, the defeat in Australia must have rattled them but how come they fell back upon a man whom they did not want to even discuss. It is here that the Indian Board must have stepped in.If stories floating around have to be believed, the selectors were even told that they will get a sack if they did not bring back these two. They were told not to get influenced by what the coach and the captain wanted.It mattered little to them that the captain and the coach had their reservations about the commitment of these two and had even conveyed this to the Board. The question arises: Why did the Board not try to probe this commitment issue and nail the guilty? It is possible that Kapil and Tendulkar were using this commitment issue as a ruse to get even with Azharuddin. Whatever the reason, the probe was essential for the greater good of the game.And what do we get instead? A Board diktat which gets the two entry into the team once again, the captain quits, the team is demoralised and finally, even on the designer wicket, they lose. The message from the Board is clear: Don't mess with us. We are the kings and for us, controlling power is more important then the interest of Indian cricket.
