Opinion A deceptive calm in cricket

— from ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’ by Lewis Carroll

There hasn’t been much going on in Indian cricket these past few weeks. No IPL,no bilateral Test series,no one-day triangular,no team announcements,no training camps,and no juicy emails to pry into.

But the BCCI’s mighty wheels have been moving,silently and significantly. Some of the decisions taken in this rare period of lull will have long-lasting ramifications — the corporate tournament,the Champions League,the changing of the SG ball — and some of the trends — Gautam Gambhir reaching the number one ranking in Tests,for example — could be important signs of what’s to follow over the next few years.

1. The first port of call as the new season begins in early September will be a corporate tournament that has already started to create a small flutter. The winning prize of one crore rupees may not be a king’s ransom in modern cricket,but it’s big enough for the event to be taken seriously at a time when the sport is undergoing a not-so-subtle shake-up.

Twelve sides,each with a sprinkling of current and former national team players,will take part,and allegations of unjustified invitations and wrongful omissions have already been made by aggrieved parties Chemplast and Indian Railways. More interesting,however,has been the board’s flip-flop on the participation of India’s leading cricketers in the tournament.

The BCCI was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea — on one hand there was pressure from corporate houses,sponsors and broadcasters,all demanding better returns for their investment; one the other hand,they could not afford to skip another training camp after the IPL had been squarely blamed for India’s early exit from the World T20 championships.

After much deliberation,the board decided to hold the training camp in the last week of August,making the players available for the corporate tournament before heading to Sri Lanka on September 10. A little extra match practice won’t hurt,they said. Coach Gary Kirsten’s views on the subject are not known.

2. The other path-veering innovation this year will be the Champions League Twenty20,which was postponed last year due to the Mumbai terror attack. The world’s top club teams,including three from the IPL,will meet in what officials hope will emerge as one of cricket’s flagship events over time — like the European Cup in football.

As a result,several key players from Deccan Chargers,Bangalore Royal Challengers and Delhi Daredevils will miss the domestic Challenger Trophy – normally used as a selection yardstick for the one-day team. It is being argued that this will be a small price to pay for the mindset-altering change that the Champions League is bound to usher. But riddle me this: Will the likes of Sachin Tendulkar,MS Dhoni and Zaheer Khan be available for the Challengers? And,if they are,will you watch Middlesex vs Chennai on ESPN ahead of India Blue vs India Red on Neo?

3. The shift from the Indian SG ball in Test cricket to either the English Duke or the Australian Kookaburra,both known for their hardiness rather than their eagerness to spin or swing for long periods,seems almost inevitable. The fear is that these foreign balls,especially the Kookaburra,will make cricket in these parts even more batsman-friendly because of the hot weather and flat wickets.

Harbhajan Singh,likely to be most affected by this change,has already weighed in strongly in favour of staying with the SG ball,coupled with a resigned acceptance of Duke and a scathing disapproval of Kookaburra. When it comes to bowling,things are sometimes exactly as they ‘seam’.

4. Finally,the one big news of the off-season in which the BCCI (and even Gautam Gambhir,as it turned out) had no role to play was his elevation to the No 1 ranking. Gambhir was cooling his heels,relaxing with friends and family,when he learnt he was the best Test batsman in the world. And though his reign at the top lasted only one week,it was long enough to emphasise a generational shift from Sachin Tendulkar,Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman even in the game’s long format.

Imagining a Test team without the three may still be nigh impossible,but Gambhir’s emergence over the last year alongside Virender Sehwag has proved to be a one-shot remedy for many potential problems,not least among them the future of Indian cricket once the three veterans call it a day.

So,for all its uneventfulness,this is turning out to be the sport’s off-season of change. After all,Indian cricket does today what the world does tomorrow.

kunal.pradhan@expressindia.com