Opinion Calling leaders

If it weren’t for a politician, the 1987 World Cup that changed the way India, and the subcontinent, related to the game of cricket would never have been held in India. N.K.P. Salve, a Union minister then who was at the helm of cricket administration, joined hands with industrialist Jagmohan Dalmiya to bring home the cup that changed the cricketing landscape in this country. The two tribes — politicians and industrialists — are much maligned entities these days, vis a vis cricket. In the wake of the DDCA cricket mess, the word on the street is that the magic potion to cleanse cricket lies in jettisoning these two. Remove them, instal cricketers, and lie back and enjoy. If only things were as simple as that.

Last year, two former Indian cricketers traded verbal blows and indulged in mudslinging ahead of elections in the Karnataka cricket administration. The accusations ranged from corruption and nepotism to financial bungling. This year, in West Bengal, a former Indian captain sought to undermine the process of elections by seeking the patronage of the chief minister that smoothed, if not heavily influenced, his path to power. To say that cricketers will make for better administrators may be naive.

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What is needed is good men, and women, to lead. Just because you know how to play the game doesn’t mean you have the acumen to lead, strategise, or even have the patience to deal with what can often be tiresomely mundane work. Being a cricketer doesn’t automatically make you less parochial, and enable you with a sense to identify what is good for the game. As things stand today, cricketers, if they choose, can come to administration. Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly have managed to do so. The Lodha committee is set to table its recommendations to clean up Indian cricket on January 4, and it will do well to take cognisance of the fact that Indian cricket needs able leaders. And that they could come from anywhere. To think otherwise could set a dangerous precedent.