Leg before wicked

These are cricket8217;s most uncomfortable moments, when the gaze shifts from the field of play to machinations in the boardroom. Yet, the ...

These are cricket8217;s most uncomfortable moments, when the gaze shifts from the field of play to machinations in the boardroom. Yet, the connection between the two arenas has perhaps never been as starkly framed as it was on Tuesday. Newly elected BCCI President Sharad Pawar was still to immerse himself in a bout of self-congratulatory celebration when the board8217;s secretary, Niranjan Shah, signalled reprieve for coach Greg Chappell. The review committee constituted two months ago to appraise Chappell, he said, would be disbanded. It is an absolutely wise course correction. But, even in its correctness, it gives proof of how dependent cricket8217;s key decisions can be on the whims and loyalties of the men who administer it.

This is the empire of patronage and arbitrary decision-making that has come to Pawar, and even a hardened politician like him could be forgiven for wondering where to begin. After all, even by the BCCI8217;s own standards, the last months8212;the twilight phase of the Dalmiya regime8212;have been particularly dark. These were months when the board remained opaque in sorting out the telecast rights issue, when it willfully leaked correspondence from the coach to intensify a rift with the then captain, when it brought to bear purely regional considerations to earn Sourav Ganguly selection for the Test squad. And of course, as has been the way with the BCCI, there was no coherent strategising on domestic cricket or on meeting obligations for the women8217;s game.

That darkness, however, is Pawar8217;s big opportunity. The board today stands so completely discredited that one grand gesture could signal his intent to deliver Indian cricket from its appalling administrative legacy. To make a start, he is spoilt for options: to scrap the regional representation on the selection board, to give cleaner account of BCCI finances, to delegate to a professional crew, to own responsibility for promoting domestic cricket. Put in the context of another recent paradigm shifting electoral verdict: can Sharad Pawar do a Nitish Kumar?