Cricket needs crisis

Those of us reduced to despair over the future of Indian cricket should take heart. The despair is understandable. What could be worse than the sense of inadequacy that has set in with Graham Ford turning down the offer to coach India? It could not be worse, because the way the narrative has gone so far, the offer was really a chance of a lifetime. Cricket in India has found abundant consolation in the number of viewers and the volume of endorsements it brings. Even when performance on the field is dismal, a strange solace is got from the belief that India matters, that it cannot be ignored. Now when even John Emburey takes a cue from Ford and turns down a lucrative association with the team, it would seem that the stock of Indian cricket could not dip any further.

Perhaps it couldn’t and that is the silver lining around this adversity. It is akin to the balance of payments crisis that struck in 1991 when we had to pawn our gold reserves. The prospect of default then forced the system into submitting to economic reform. And the benefits that accrued can be found in sustained GDP growth and a reduction in poverty figures. The problem was not this country’s economic potential but the self-defeating system in place.

So it is with cricket. The trouble is not with the team. The problem is with cricket administration. There are too many powerful lobbies that gain sustenance by their association with cricket. This association is wreaking great perversion, whether it be in selecting the team, in scheduling tours or in recruiting support staff. Since the context is the coaching crisis, consider by way of example the silliness on display for far too long now. The soft-spoken John Wright leaves a team with a new winning habit. So when the more assertive Greg Chappell is inducted, he is restrained when he tries to draw fresh talent and increased discipline into the team. And now with the coach-less team struggling to even stay amongst the second rung, coaches are sought who will submit to pre-decided support coaches, heavily conditional contracts and no guarantee against minute interference. Blame it not on Ford, but on the BCCI.