Indian Cricket146;s P-team

So much so that a meeting of the Board for Control of Cricket in India BCCI could pass off as a sitting of a Parliamentary consultative committee: a former Union Defence Minister, a former Law Minister, three former Chief Ministers, two former Deputy CMs, two sons of chief ministers and a handful of MPs and MLAs.

The irony in this is that while other sports associations most of whom are also headed by politicians, see box come under the control of the Sports Ministry, the BCCI is autonomous; it8217;s more than a joke that this is one way politicians can control the game.

In some ways, this is a throwback to pre-independence days, when cricket was patronised by the Maharajas 8212; they sponsored, managed and often captained the teams. They were, effectively, the mai-baap of the game, often spending heavily on training local talent. Since Independence, too, there have been politicians at the helm of Indian cricket 8212; notably N K P Salve and Madhavrao Scindia of late 8212; but nothing compares to the current phenomenon, where 11 state associations are in the hands of politicians or their close kin.

The game has, of course, changed since Salve8217;s days; India is now the main cricketing power, Indian cricketers the biggest stars, the Indian team8217;s presence almost anywhere guarantee of a full house thanks to the diaspora. That great leap forward has brought in its wake miles of red-tape, mind-boggling legal fine-print and the need to interact with officials from Manchester to Melbourne.

The trend started after the watershed court ruling on TV rights in 1995, which opened up the cricket grounds to private channels. If the 1987 Reliance Cup showed the world that India wasn8217;t just a bit-player in international cricket, this court ruling truly opened the door for Big Money to come in.

And for politicians to follow suit. Their entry to cricket administration is usually facilitated by one faction wanting to remove another; that toe-hold is all the neta needs. Next stop is winning an election on one8217;s own steam, a walk in the park for veterans of the hustings.

The credentials of their rivals usually don8217;t matter much. Three years ago former Indian skipper and coach Bishan Singh Bedi and Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley contested the DDCA presidentship; Bedi got one-tenth the votes Jaitley did. Around the same time, Sharad Pawar trounced Ajit Wadekar in a contest eerily similar to that in Delhi 8212; and a direct poll, too, bereft of Delhi8217;s proxy votes.

Once in, politicians take little time to blend with the atmosphere and it8217;s easy to see why. There are no tangible perks 8212; presidentship of a state association is an honorary post. But the intangibles? Money can8217;t even begin to buy them.

First, the publicity. Politicians apart, cricketers are the most visible breed in India and obviously held in much greater affection. What better for an MP or minister than to be seen with, say, the likes of Sachin and Saurav, Kaif and Kumble? Indira Gandhi realised this as far back as 1971, when welcoming home the team that toured the West Indies, and every Prime Minister since has followed in her footsteps, given half a chance.

You don8217;t have to be PM; even 15 minutes of fame on a prize-distribution dais can take a legislator from the corridors of power to the off-limits Long Room at Lord8217;s. Ask Loktantrik Congress Party MP and journalist Rajiv Shukla who, thanks to a happy twist of fate, is inextricably linked to images of that magical Lord8217;s day when India won the NatWest Trophy and he was the team manager.

Closer home, even the most irrelevant state cricket board has its privileges, beginning with the Rs 60-80 lakh annual dole-out from the BCCI. The money increases goes up for every Test hosted or, better still, every one-day international. And the power multiplies exponentially through the distribution of tickets.

Just how prized control of a state association is can be gauged from the unseemly battle in Bihar. The state8217;s bifurcation meant Jamshedpur, the cricket capital and ODI venue, went to Jharkhand; the original body was up for grabs. In stepped Laloo Yadav, who floated a new body which he claimed to be the real Bihar Cricket Association.

During the last Board election in Chennai both the JCA and BCA turned up but neither was allowed to cast their vote. The waters were further muddied by cricketer-turned-politician Kirti Azad, who floated the Association of Bihar Cricket. While the Jamshedpur body now seeks affiliation for a Jharkhand Cricket Association, Kirti and Laloo fight to control Bihar.

If the lure is power, the exercise of that power can be bizarre. Laloo8217;s chopper-hailing was with the best of intentions, but the helicopter flew too low and blew away the covers, exposing the pitch to water and forcing the match to be extended to the next day anyway.

Even Bihar has to take a backseat in the sleaze stakes to, of all states, sleepy Goa. In April last year, the India-Australia ODI at Nehru Stadium in Margao saw over 15,000 genuine ticket holders locked outside; police found that nearly 20,000 fake tickets had been printed.

Investigation led to the arrest of Narvekar8217;s ticket contractor Chinmaya Fallari, GCA treasurer Rama Shankardas and Narvekar8217;s brother-in-law Eknath Naik 8212; who sold the tickets.

If ever there was a case for cricket8217;s reins to be taken out of the politicians8217; hands, this was it. But, says Kiran More 8212; former Indian wicket-keeper and newly elected secretary of the Baroda Cricket Association 8212; politicians bring with them the skeleton keys that open doors others can8217;t. And as the game grows, there are an increasing number of doors that need opening.

8216;8216;Organising an international match means there are hundreds of things to take care of: clearance from various government departments, deployment of security forces, foreign exchange8230; And if and when we play again against Pakistan, liaisoning with the government will be vital. For such things a politician in the fold always helps.8217;8217;

That8217;s why, when the BCCI recently discussed the contracts issue, the working committee meeting in Delhi had a special invitee 8212; former Union Law Minister and DDCA president Arun Jaitley. The outcome of the crisis speaks for itself.

Indeed, Jaitley is a good example of how a politician can change things. He was elected after a bitter battle with Bishan Bedi but among the first things he did was appoint Bedi as chief coach at a handsome salary. His is not a fleeting, showtime acquaintance with the game and even now he turns up for Ranji and junior matches.

Yet even his reputation for meticulous planning fell apart at the last ODI hosted at the Kotla, against Zimbabwe, where again several thousand extra tickets were printed and the scenes outside the ground were shambolic.

Jaitley8217;s counterpart in Mumbai, Sharad Pawar, is perhaps the best advertisement for a politician controlling cricket. Pawar, who has a reputation for efficiency, was essentially brought in to sort out a long and bitter dispute between the Mumbai Cricket Association and the Garware Club, an affiliate unit of which Pawar is a member. Mumbai cricket has a long history of proximity with politicians; Pawar8217;s predecessor was current Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, and further back down the line was the irrepressible minister Sheshrao Wankhede, who built 8212; in nine months flat 8212; the stadium named after him to break the stranglehold of the Cricket Club of India.

Pawar8217;s progress report so far is middling-to-fair. The Garware-MCA wrangle is almost resolved but that8217;s only the tangible achievement. The most complex part of his job is to keep the fractious politics within the MCA from affecting work; for someone like him, curbing and massaging egos is child8217;s play. As Mumbai Ranji Trophy coach Lalchand Rajput says: 8216;8216;The one thing to Pawar8217;s advantage is that he is very good at man-management. It is here that his personality helps in keeping the unit together.8217;8217;

His most important task now is to look beyond conducting Tests and ODIs and check the falling standards of the game in the Mecca of Cricket. But Pawar knows his limits and limitations. 8216;8216;As the MCA head my role is to administrate, to serve the interests of cricket. I also try not to meddle in matters concerning the game since it is best left to those who know the sport.8217;8217;

Pawar8217;s task is ahead of him; to see just how much change a politician can effect, look at Himachal Pradesh, a state with no cricketing record of any sort till Anurag Thakur took over as the state president. He had other credentials 8212; former Punjab junior player, successful businessman 8212; but, most importantly, his father is Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.

Since taking over, he8217;s raised the association8217;s budget from Rs 18 lakh in 1999 to Rs 80 lakh last year. The players no longer travel 2nd class sleeper; it8217;s 2nd AC and, if the distance is more, they fly. And they do more travelling now than before, having made it to the knock-out stage of Ranji Trophy last season for the first time, earning themselves a ticket to this season8217;s A-Division under the new format.

Still, as Assam and Goa will testify, you8217;re in the minor league if you can8217;t host ODIs, so Thakur8217;s current baby is an ambitious Rs 10-crore stadium in Dharamsala, likely to be completed in a year8217;s time.

Being a chief minister8217;s son allowed Anurag access to big business houses so he could infuse money into the game. 8216;8216;You can8217;t even think about crores of rupees without any major inflow. I got them the money and the infrastructure. We asked the state government for land to build an international-level stadium and they agreed to our proposal8217;8217;, he says.

If Thakur is a bonafide cricketer-turned-administrator, Gujarat8217;s Narhari Amin is a politician through and through. A former deputy chief minister, he discovered a love of the game nine years ago and decided to run for GCA president. His school8217;s kabaddi captain, Amin8217;s more legitimate claim to cricketing status was his 5-year term as sports minister.

Today, the GCA boasts the floodlit Motera Stadium, a positive youth development scheme and its product, Parthiv Patel.

The current Ranji champions, Railways, have much to thank Madhavrao Scindia for; his term minister in the 90s saw the foundation of a solid team being built. His keen personal interest 8212; he would attend matches, oversee prizes, not just in cricket but in all other sports 8212; had a touch of the old regal style but was effective. Today, the Railways are reaping the harvest.

Even as most associations in north and western India have fallen to politicians, some 8212; like that village in Asterix comics 8212; hold out. There8217;s no magic potion to keep them going, though, and progress has suffered.

The Saurashtra Cricket Association8217;s main problem is that it lacks a ground. The one it uses is leased by the Municipal Corporation, which also uses it for other purposes. Some years ago a fireworks show just before a Wills Trophy one-day match seriously damaged the outfield. And, come ODI time, the municipality bags a lion8217;s share of the passes.

Maybe a politician would have sorted out these problems but SCA secretary 8212; and former BCCI secretary 8212; Niranjan Shah says, 8216;8216;We are okay the way we are.8217;8217;

The Maharashtra Cricket association in Pune has similar problems. A ground of one8217;s own, says MCA chairman Dhyaneshwar Agashe, means spending Rs 5 crore and hosting an ODI once in 3-4 years. 8216;8216;What happens in between? Ranji Trophy. It hardly attracts money. So it would have been a colossal waste of money.8217;8217;

As the P-team tightens its grip on the game, sensing the virtue in the spin-offs, it seems the day isn8217;t far when the Sports Ministry will control the BCCI, if only by proxy. Good thing or bad? The jury8217;s out but the only evidence at hand is the condition of other sports bodies controlled by the pols. As a BCCI member says ominously, 8216;8216;The likes of Sharad Pawar are not used to sitting on the sidelines.8217;8217;

Former Test captain Dilip Vengsarkar, now chairman of Mumbai8217;s selection committee, tries to keep a balanced view: 8216;8216;It hardly matters whether a cricket association chief is a politician or a businessman. What8217;s more important is how much time he devotes to the game, how much passion he has for the sport. He should be sincere in his devotion.8217;8217;

Additional reporting by S Santhanam and Ajit Bezbarauh/Delhi, Vikrant Gupta/Chandigarh, Vinay Nayudu/Mumbai, Rohit Joshi/Ahmedabad, Micky Aigner and Chandresh Narayana/Pune