Indian Board plays safe (25 July 1999)

25 July 1999

Indian Board plays safe

The Daily Star

Calcutta, July 24: Three top players survived a close shave as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) opted to play safe against the issue of cricketers' code of conduct.

Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Robin Singh received letters from the BCCI, seeking explanation for their comments to the media about Indian team's performance in the World Cup. And, all the three have promptly gone on to back-foot, informing the Board about their rebuttals.

The BCCI, which had earlier stated that it would issue show-cause notice on these players, however preferred to go soft on them. The letter was just sort of formality, merely asking the cricketers whether they had made the comments. As usual, the players have denied the entire episode.

Ganguly on his arrival in Calcutta after India's unsuccessful campaign at the World Cup wrote Sachin Tendulkar should bat down the order in his column of a vernacular daily. On the other hand, Rahul Dravid had donned the mantle of a commentator during the final of the World Cup and finally Robin Singh had accused the team management of failing to explain the tournament rules properly.

In their replies, Ganguly stated that he had expressed his personal point of view, which had been misinterpreted by the press. Dravid has clarified that during the World Cup final he had not commented on the performance of the Indian team. Robin Singh meanwhile denied the entire episode where he had reported to criticise the manager Brijesh Patel and the coach Angshuman Gaekwad.

The BCCI has however accepted the replies and decided that it would be 'proper' to just issue a warning and impose a token-fine on the players. The BCCI decision not to pursue the controversy further is because it is much worried about the captaincy issue. Selection of the captain for Indian team's forthcoming tours to Sri Lanka, Singapore and Kenya will take place on July 28. And for once, after the unhappy performance both as player and skipper, Mohammad Azharuddin is no more the forerunner for the demanding job. Although he has already started getting in touch with the BCCI on his return from London Thursday, it appears to many that his chances of a survival are slim.

Board president Raj Singh Dungarpur, known to be an ardent Azhar supporter, has already made it clear to the selectors that he would not interfere with their decision. Three of the selectors namely Ashok Malhotra, Madan Lal and Anil Deshpande have openly expressed their dissatisfaction against Azhar. In fact they do not want him in the team even. Azhar only has the support of Shivlal Yadav, who incidentally is also from Hyderabad. The cricketers in line for the top job are Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja and Saurav Ganguly. However it was learnt that in spite of having repeated discussions with the chairman of the selection committee Ajit Wadekar, the 'little master' is yet to make up his mind to lead the side. Tendulkar has made it clear that he is eager to take over the reins of the Indian team after India's tour down under.

At present he is anxiously waiting to become father for the second time and captaincy is the last thing on his mind. His doctor wife, Anjali, is due to give birth to their second child in September.

This makes Jadeja an automatic choice to lead the side in the one-dayers. He is also eager to face the challenge. When contacted through his cell phone, Jadeja however made it clear that he would not like to get involved in any controversy. "Look Azhar just had one bad year and is being pulled down. This should not have happened," he said.

At the same time he also mentioned that he enjoyed the job tremendously when he stood in for injured Azhar in the three matches at Sharjah. "It was really challenging and I enjoyed every moment of it. If captaincy comes, I will not shy away from it."

Even then if he is chosen for the job, the BCCI may nominate him captain for the first two one-day tournaments and then proceed according to the performance of the team. Besides that Jadeja is also not a regular member in the Test team.

At this point Saurav Ganguly gets an edge. If Jadeja fails to deliver or runs out of form, the selectors may think of Ganguly as captain for the Test matches against New Zealand in India. However, all these are stop gap arrangements for Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The selectors and most of the players feel that the seat belongs to him. It is only a matter of time before he decides once more to sit on it.

Source :: The Daily Star (https://www.dailystarnews.com)