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Journalism of Courage
Has Sourav Ganguly got away lightly? Yes, going by the BCCI’s past record of review panel or disciplinary committee verdicts. Captains who have defied the Board or breached discipline have paid the price by being stripped of the captaincy. Then again, has Ganguly really defied a Board that itself appears incapable of much discipline?
Previous captain controversies and consequence
Lala Amarnath: The colourful captain in the late 1940s had constant brushes with authorities. Paid the price when he went to the press in 1949 accusing the Board of ’power politics’. The then BCCI president Anthony de Mello passed a resolution at the AGM to suspend Lala from all domestic and international games for ‘‘repeated acts of indiscipline’’. He was also charged with neglecting the role of a captain, arriving late for matches and finally the serious allegation of favouring a player for money. Lala later apologised and the ban was lifted. But when the selectors met, the charismatic leader lost his captaincy.
Ajit Wadekar: India’s tour of England in 1974 was similar to the recent Zimbabwe series. The tour party led by Wadekar was divided into two groups. There were slanging matches in the dressing room, some embarrassing public outbursts by players plus a complete rout on the field. The Board stepped in to review the tour but nothing came out of it. But this tour to England proved Wadekar’s last series as captain as he was replaced by Bedi.
Bishan Singh Bedi: Ironically, given his antipathy to Ganguly, has a record similar to the current captain’s. Survived repeated confrontations with the Board. Got the captaincy after the England tour in ’74 that saw him hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Challenging the captain, an ‘incident’ at the Indian High Commissioner’s dinner and interview to a TV channel saw him summoned by the Board. But their only action was to appoint Bedi skipper. As he captain he once failed to attend a camp and was questioned by the board but to no outcome.
Dilip Vengsarkar: After the disastrous tour of West Indies in 1989, skipper Vengsarkar gave an interview to a sports magazine questioning the attitude of this team. Among the allegations were non-cooperation, fear of facing fast bowling and faking injuries. Tour completed, the skipper led the team to the US for a few masala matches. The public outburst meant that was his last tour as captain. And, for good measure, he was also banned from the game for six months.
Kris Srikkanth: Just before leaving for Pakistan in 1989, his first tour as captain, Srikkanth confronted the board by raising the issue of graded payment. He took the fight to the BCCI. Srikkanth led the team to Pakistan after refusing to accept match fees. After a moderately successful Pakistan tour, both for himself and the team, Srikkanth lost his captaincy.
