'Big bully' Team India: Silly point or caught out?

BULLY CRICKET: Panelists on Face the Nation say India was just asserting its rights, not being a bully.

            

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The racial abuse charge against Harbhajan Singh threatened to derail India’s tour of Australia. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) went to the extent of declaring that if the three-match ban on the Indian off-spinner were not lifted, the team would pull out of the tour. The ban was finally quashed after New Zealand High Court Judge John Hansen ruled that Harbhajan did not racially abuse Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds.

It is no secret that India is now the economic superpower in cricket. The BCCI’s income in 2006-07 was Rs 650 crore, which was more than half of the game’s income. Global media rights for cricket matches to be held in India between 2006-10 were awarded for Rs 2,191 crore to Nimbus. The official kit sponsorship deal for 2006-10 with Nike has been signed for Rs 197 crore. Air Sahara earned the right to be the official sponsor of the Indian team for Rs 280 crore. IPL broadcast rights for 2008-18 were given to Sony for Rs 4104 crore.

But after the Harbhajan row, other cricketing nations feel that India is becoming a bully and using its money power to browbeat other boards.

Famous cricket writer Peter Roebuck wrote, "India's performance in chartering a plane to take the players back home in the event of an independent judge finding against them in the Harbhajan Singh case counted amongst the most nakedly aggressive actions taken in the history of a notoriously fractious game. If this is the way the Indian board intends to conduct its affairs hereafter, then God help cricket."

And the topic of discussion on CNN-IBN’s Face The Nation on Thursday was 'Is India cricket's big bully?'

Former cricketer Yashpal Sharma, Sydney Morning Herald correspondent in New Delhi Matt Wade and Rahul Mehra, an advocate who filed a PIL about how the BCCI was mismanaging Indian cricket, took part in the discussion that was moderated by Sagarika Ghose.

Yashpal Sharma backed the BCCI’s approach on the Harbhajan issue.

"I feel the BCCI had to fight for the players’ right. How many times BCCI interferes when an Indian player is penalised? This was a totally different case altogether so the BCCI had a right to fight for this. If they would not have come out openly and aggressively, I think Indian cricket would have gone down," Yashpal said.

He went on to argue that the fight was not between two cricketers.

"They blamed Harbhajan of being racist and no Indian would tolerate. This was totally different and the entire nation was together. The players felt this was the time to fight for the rights. I think they were right for the cause," Yashpal said.

Matt Wade disagreed when it was pointed out that following the Harbhajan row; Australian media has also turned jingoistic and was accusing India of being a bully.

"I don’t think so. I think there is a recognition that the power in cricket has shifted. No longer is the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) the financial or the political hub. It has moved and I think Australians are quite comfortable with that. But I guess from an Australian point of view with India such a powerful force in cricket, with all that power, all that wealth and all those resources comes some responsibility. I think there was concern that as soon as the thing started to go bad, the threat of a withdrawal or a boycott, didn’t seem to be the leadership that we were hoping from Indian cricket," Wade said.

Rahul Mehra vociferously countered Wade’s arguments.

"Not at all. Why should we Indians be apologetic about being the economic superpower? That’s the ground reality and hats off to the BCCI for the first time. I am the most critical person as far as the BCCI is concerned, the way they manage themselves, the lack of transparency and their work. But this is the first time that the BCCI needs to be applauded and they have been forced by the media to go the way they went because every channel, ever newspaper article was creating an opinion poll. They were trying to gauge the public view whether India should withdraw and come back and 95 per cent said they should come back. Secondly he (Matt Wade) says that as a superpower there comes a responsibility. What responsibility? What have we done wrong? There is national esteem, national pride and honour involved there. How can somebody without any basis take four Australians on one side and a demigod in Sachin Tendulkar on the other side and say we don’t believe Tendulkar, we don’t believe inconclusive evidence but we believe those white men. Who are they? Are they god?” Mehra argued.

Pot calling kettle black?

So is the western world uncomfortable with assertion of rights by countries like India? Is it fair to expect India to be responsible when Australia, a superpower in cricket, have not been so? They have been foul mouthed, they sledge, use abusive language in the field.