One-day series cancellation may be blessing for Indian team
Finally, after much hemming and hawing the BCCI has formally withdrawn from the Super Challenge one-day series in Australia in September
Sankhya Krishnan
19-Jul-2001
Finally, after much hemming and hawing the BCCI has formally withdrawn
from the Super Challenge one-day series in Australia in September. It
was hardly a surprise ever since the Board committed itself in May to
the Asian Test Championship on overlapping dates. Exactly why they had
to tarry until today to intimate their Australian counterparts is more
enigmatic. The curtain thus comes down on an episode which began in
April when India were proferred an invitation for a three match series
including two indoor games at Melbourne's Colonial Stadium.
Having begun the tradition of indoor cricket in August 2000 against
South Africa, the ACB turned to India in the second year. With the two
nations slugging out one of the great Test series in history earlier
this year for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, they were possibly keen to
stoke the embers of that contest. A third match to be played at the
Gabba was to have broken fresh ground, being the first time
international cricket came to Brisbane outside the customary November-
March period.
Board Secretary Jaywant Lele confirmed having received the invite but
hedged his bets on accepting. The cause for India's ponderous reaction
to the proposal became clear at the Asian Cricket Council meeting in
Lahore in May when the Board pulled a rabbit out of the hat by
agreeing to take part in the Asian Test Championship. India was set to
clash with Pakistan in Lahore from September 12-16, following which
they would host Bangladesh in another one-off Test from September
20-24.
That should have really put a definite lid on the Super Challenge
prospect but the ACB was given to believe that the BCCI was still
amenable to a change of heart. They were perhaps encouraged by the
continued coyness of Indian officials who, as it turned out, could not
get around the constraint of having committed their players to be
simultaneously present in another location. No one can grudge the
Board's preference for the Asian initiative over the Australian one.
Cricketing ties between India and Pakistan have been suspended since
May 2000 which is already far longer than the patience of fans across
the Radcliffe line can endure.
There is of course the minor hiccup of the Indian Government not
having granted permission yet for their national team's journey to
Lahore. Indeed when the ACC decision was announced in Lahore on May
28, it had the effect of stirring a hornet's nest in the form of the
excitable Union Minister for Sport, Uma Bharti.
"The BCCI should not take the liberty of making such announcements. To
play in Pakistan, the BCCI has to first give a written proposal to the
Sports Ministry which in turn would forward it to the Ministry of
External Affairs (MEA). The final decision rests with the MEA. No such
proposal of a tour of Pakistan in September has been received by the
Ministry" reacted Ms.Bharti.
In return, ACC Chairman Jagmohan Dalmiya brandished a letter from the
Sports Ministry which proposed the broad policy that 'India will
continue to play Pakistan in multilateral tournaments at regular
venues' including those in either of the two countries. With both
parties still guardedly sizing each other up, there is the tantalising
prospect that, having had two birds in the bush, the Board could
conceivably end up with none in the hand.
That would probably suit the Indian players down to the hilt. Board
President AC Muthiah's fax statement to his ACB counterpart mentions
that he took the decision after holding consultations with his players
and noting their concerns about a calendar chockful with engagements.
Indeed, the team's schedule over the next 13 months, comprising 22
Tests and some 40 odd ODIs, is designed to make a stevedore faint.
Perhaps it is just as well the Board has heeded that old maxim about
geese and golden eggs.