BCCI should follow ACB example

Will the Indian Cricket Board follow the example of the Australian Cricket Board? It is doubtful whether they will but they should.

Just the other day ACB chief executive Malcolm Speed said that Australian cricket has passed up millions of dollars by spurning offers to play in numerous limited overs tournaments since 1998. He added that this year the ACB had turned down lucrative offers to send the Australian team to at least six tournaments. Speed said the offers were declined to avoid overloading the national team but he also hinted concerns caused by the emerging match fixing scandals may have played a part. ``This year we could have accepted offers to play in six triangular one day tournaments in different parts of the world ranging from the United States to Singapore to Bermuda, right around the world. We would have been paid a significant amount of money to play in each of those tournaments. We rejected all of those. The Australian team has not played in any of these ad hoc one day tournaments since we went to Sharjah at the end of an Indian tour in 1998 and as a result of this we have turned our back on millions of dollars. We believe that the current programme we have within Australia and within our regular programmes with overseas countries provides enough cricket for the players. And secondly, we don't want to play in these tournaments unless they are under the clear auspices of another cricket board against top line competition.''

With this sort of pragmatic policy, is it any wonder that Australia are the leading cricketing nation today? It has been known for some time that a surfeit of cricket could lead to staleness but recent events have indicated that too much one day cricket could also have a direct bearing on the match fixing scandal. But did the BCCI heed the warning signals? Despite the fact that the players were very obviously tired, the board still sent them hopping from one tournament to another - from Sharjah to Toronto, from Singapore to Dhaka, from Colombo to Nairobi to Kuala Lumpur. Ostensibly this was done to give the Indian team opportunities and to globalise the game. But the bottom line still remained financial. The BCCI is cash rich but at what cost? And in how many of these one day tournaments did India do well, let alone win? And in the long run, this was a short sighted policy for the jaded Indian players could not be expected to perform upto potential even in the Test matches or on a longer tour, as events in Australia last season proved.

After the match fixing scandal broke, there were clear indications that the plethora of limited overs tournaments were in a way responsible for it - as, in fact, Speed has hinted. But the BCCI has turned its back on the evidence and has continued to commit the Indian team to a number of one day competitions. Considering all this, perhaps it is a blessing in disguise that the government refused to give its clearance for participation in the Sahara Cup.