Packed agenda for Board AGM

Surely never in its 71-year-old history has an annual general meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India been held in more extraordinary circumstances. Yes, there have been crises before even as the Board meetings have been held but the period since the 70th AGM in Jaipur in September last year has been a particularly disturbing and momentous time for Indian cricket.

The match fixing scandal that has engulfed the game in India in a big way and affected some Indian players prominently, a below par performance by the national team, both at home and abroad, controversies surrounding a few cricketers, the Kapil Dev soap opera, the dropping of tainted players, the CBI inquiry, the income-tax raids on players and officials, government interference, the Board's autonomy being undermined, the BCCI president under a cloud on account of being chargesheeted in the SPIC disinvestment case, a secretary whose utterances have become a laughing stock. Surely, the BCCI could not be so shell shocked on the eve of any AGM before.

But shell shocked or not, beset by scandals and controversies or not, the business for the two days (Friday and Saturday) has to be carried out at the plush hotel Connemara in Chennai. And with a packed agenda, the officials have their hands full. But of course, besides the agenda, there will be the usual power politics, with officials trying to score a point or two. This has been an unwelcome feature of the Board's AGM and is unlikely to change, whatever the crisis the game in the country suffers from. This unwelcome feature is seen in the election of office bearers, the nomination of selectors and generally in oneupmanship.

Leading up to the AGM, all sorts of stories were circulating regarding whether AC Muthiah and JY Lele would be re-elected as president and secretary. Much was made of the SPIC disinvestment case in which Muthiah has been chargesheeted and whether this would bring him down. As he has weathered so many storms in the past few months, Muthiah seems to braved this too and indications are that he will be reelected for a second term. Tradition has it that the BCCI president generally serves three years and only in a couple of cases in recent times - RP Mehra in 1977 and BN Dutt in 1990 - has a chief been removed after serving only two years. To say that Muthiah has had a difficult first year would be an understatement. First, his tenure was hit by the Indian team's non performance and frequent chopping and changing in the team. Then the match fixing scandal broke and with Indians said to be figuring prominently, one way or the other in the case, all eyes were on Muthiah to see whether he could provide leadership to tackle a burning controversy which just did not seem to go away. To Muthiah's credit, it must be said that overall he did provide a sense of balance whenever the issue threatened to go out of control. Whether he could have done any better is of course a moot point.

Lele, despite putting his foot in his mouth often, is all set to win re-election for a fourth term. Whatever his shortcomings - and there are many - he has the backing of the people who matter. Former ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya will of course play a major role as kingmaker and his nominees are likely to be elected. It remains to be seen however whether Dalmiya's bete noire, former Board president IS Bindra makes a big noise. But it can be taken for granted that all the vice presidents Manohar Joshi, Kamal Morarka, CK Khanna, AN Singh and KM Ram Prasad, the joint secretary Jyoti Bajpai and the treasurer Kishore Rungta will win another term, despite any shenanigans resorted to by any opposing group.

However, there are bound to be some changes in the selection committee. Madan Lal from North Zone and Ashok Malhotra from East Zone are almost sure to be retained. Sanjay Jagdale may replace Anil Deshpande from the Central Zone. There is growing opposition to TA Sekhar from South Zone but the fact that he has been in the job only for a year may prove to be in his favour. Which brings us to the important post of the chairman. Chandu Borde has left himself open to criticism both by way of his hiring and firing policy and his inane comments at press conferences while announcing the teams. There is a strong lobby for making Anshuman Gaekwad the chairman but the fact that he is already the national coach is a factor being held against him. Under the circumstances Borde could well keep his job for another year.

There is little excitement about the personnel to be appointed to the various other committees. These are generally made to keep various regions or groups happy. But there is a lot of importance given to the appointment of a couple of other posts. The appointment of a new coach will be widely debated. Given the fact that the Board has virtually decided on a foreign coach, the questions to be asked are who will he be, on what terms will he be appointed and when he will take charge? The season has already started, the Indian team has already been slated to take part in tournaments in Nairobi and Sharjah with a stop gap coach in Gaekwad and so the sooner the terms are finalised and the new coach takes over, the better. Geoff Marsh, who was Australia's coach when they won the World Cup last year, is the front runner for the job though it is learnt that his financial terms, which are on the high side, is a worrying factor for the Board. Former New Zealand captain John Wright, who has been coaching Kent successfully for the past two years, is the other candidate in the fray. There is another contender in former West Indian fast bowler Andy Roberts but his name is not likely to be considered seriously.

Then there are other important issues to be considered like the adoption of the code of conduct and the finalisation of the proposed tour to Pakistan, which has run into opposition from the government. The setting up of zonal academies will also come up for discussion as also will various financial matters, the subject of graded payments to players, the appointment of a media manager and several other posts for which the board had advertised recently, obviously in response to criticism that its functioning was not `professional.' All in all, there is no denying the importance of the meeting and if the members concentrate on taking some cricketing decisions without resorting to acrimony, it would be an achievement.