India debates: Politically cricket?

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It's politicians versus cricketers after the debacle in Durban. Parliamentarians are cutting across party lines to express endless outrage against cricketers.

From Mohan Singh of Samajwadi Party to Brinda Karat of CPI-(M), from Rajeev Shukla of Congress to Lalu Prasad Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal, not to mention the redoubtable Gurudas Dasgupta of the CPI, all the people’s representatives are outraged by the damage to the national honour done by the Men in Blue on their South Africa tour.

'Cut their pays,' 'sack the foreign coach Chappell', 'bring back Ganguly' are some of the intelligent remarks by the responsible politicians of our nation fuming over the poor performance of Indian cricket team in their South Africa tour.

Meanwhile, frenzy fans are on a rampage, burning effigies of Greg Chappell in Kolkata, stoning Mohammad Kaif’s house in Allahabad and if all that was not enough, Indian skipper Rahul Dravid has fractured a finger. He will not play the next match. V V S Laxman will join the team and Virender Sehwag will lead the team in Dravid’s absence.

Greg Chappell has certainly made a number of enemies as India’s cricket coach. Even he perhaps could never have predicted that none other than India’s parliamentarians would join the list of his detractors. Chappell’s remark that MP’s are entitled to make any comments they like for that is why they are paid, gave way to unexpectedly severe reaction by the Parliamentarians.

Should our fans and politicians leave cricketers alone?

On CNN-IBN’s show Face the Nation, panel of experts including the Associate Editor of Daily News and Anaysis Ayaz Memon, BJP MP and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu and CPI-(M) MP Mohammad Salim, discussed the ongoing controversy triggered by the coach's remarks on Parliamentarians.

"In the war of right and wrong, you cannot afford to be neutral. I will be on truth’s side. Fact of the matter is that we all are overreacting. We are getting hysterical over something that has not happened for the first time. We have toured South Africa for over four times before. Tell me one instance when we performed well. Leave aside the Indian team, barring Australia that won seven matches out of fifteen, the whole world has performed poorly in South Africa. Was Greg Chappell coaching Indian team when we lost three consecutive matches in South Africa? The answer is no,” said Sidhu.

CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta had said the former Australian captain "had no business" to make comments on Parliamentarians. He went on to say "Chappell doesn't understand the nuances of democracy. Chappell being a foreigner even fails to understand the Indian team."

Responding to Dasgupta’s comment, Mohammad Salim said, "If you appoint a coach on contract basis, he is expected to deliver and perform. We all want the Indian team to perform well before the World Cup. Politicians are not picking up and selecting the players. Not even the BCCI is interfering. Since we have given a free hand to Greg Chappell, we want him to deliver and show results.”

But is it correct for MP’s who may or may not intelligently follow the game of cricket to get agitated and create national emergency out of a defeat in a game?

"I don’t think cricket is a game any longer. Cricket is one great tamasha in India. I think cricket has become pretty much a part of the entertainment industry, and right now it’s actually mayhem. Everybody seems to be lashing out against Chappell or Rahul Dravid. The simple fact is that we are just not good enough. Our team has never played great overseas. Apart from the 1983 World Cup and the 1985 World Championship of Cricket in Australia which we won, if you look at the 75-year-old record of India, you will realise we have always struggled when it comes to playing overseas,” said Ayaz Memon.

But isn’t the general attitude towards cricket far too emotional? On one hand where people are seen performing rituals, presenting garlands to a cricketer making a century, the same fans go on to burn effigies, and stone a players house when they perform badly in a match.

"Everybody has the option to give an opinion. Perhaps Chappell should have been a little more discreet and a little more circumspect in his remarks. He perhaps meant that since everybody is paid to do his job, so do the MP’s to give comments. I think his remarks have been blown out of proportion and out of context,” added Memon.

"If you look at the 15 months record of Rahul Dravid-Greg Chappell combination, perhaps its a 50-50 situation. We have just slumped since the West Indies tour. We are in a bit of a rot. Our team needs Chappell to come out of this rot. We are not the best team in the world, then why not just accept it?” Memon asked.

Perhaps the nub of the issue is to look at the way cricket is administered and controlled by the Board. Why just blame the cricketers and the coach?

"When the team wins, everybody celebrates. When it gets defeated, everybody feels frustrated. The question is that the coach must be ready to accept all criticism. Why is Chappell not ready to accept the criticism?” asked Mohammad Salim.

Responding to the issue Sidhu said, "The MPs have every right to make a comment. But they should not be judgemental. People who know nothing about cricket go on to say 'sack the coach’. How can they say something like that?”

Peculiar features of sports management in our country

In our country even sports is dominated by politicians. Perhaps the prime reason why politicians invariably take up entire front row seats.

The list just goes on and on. Politicians are controlling all major sports in our country. Instead of going after the cricketers why not just go after the politicians who are the heads and controlling cricket?

"All these sports federations are associations. Hardly do state governments or the Central Government get any power to discipline these bodies,” argued Mohammad Salim.

So is it time to disinvest Indian sports? Isn’t it time that we end the license permit raj and liberalise Indian sports?

"Politics is the last refuge of the scoundrels. And these sports bodies are the last refuge of the failed scoundrels. It’s not the people who succeed in politics who are heading these sports bodies. Its actually the failed politicians who are getting into them and heading them,” said Mohammad Salim.

Is it time India brought some amount of professionalism in sports?

All over the world, sports bodies are managed and headed by professionals. Malcolm Speed, CEO of the International Cricket Council is a lawyer while James Sutherland, CEO of Cricket Australia is a manager. Is it now a crying need for India to bring some amount of professionalism in its sports management and take out the grip of the politicians? Why cant politicians simply get out of sports?

"There is not much of an issue with politicians running sports bodies. But we must have people with a vision, who have a passion for sports and at the end of the day who can bring some results," suggested Ayaz Memon.

"It seems that the whole Greg Chappell issue is getting Xenophobic. Chappell has been brought here to do a certain job. His two-year assignment finishes when the World Cup finishes. He has tried to do a lot many things. We need do a little logical analysis. What are you going to do if you sack him midstream now? What are we going to do till the World Cup? May be we can try some of the new players, tally their records and performances with previous games. That can be a solution. But violent reactions are not going to take you anywhere,” Memon added.

The fact that emerges is that the game of cricket has changed. The days of the amateur are over. Perhaps it's time to get in more experts like Chappell, who can advice us on processes.

"Greg Chappell is a professional and he certainly is accountable. But if you ask Chappell to be transparent, ask also the Board to be a little more accountable. They have to answer the people. Why isn’t the Indian team performing well? We are shifting away from key issues and making Chappell the scapegoat,” said Sidhu.

Are politicians fanning Xenophobic public opinion?

Instead of providing sobre leadership to the public, politicians seem to be fanning the flames of Xenophobia by using terms like 'foreign coach’, 'bring back Ganguly’, and 'Bengali nationalism’.

"Politicians are not fanning such opinions. These are the emotions of the people across the country. In fact it is the media that creates hype about the Indian team failing to deliver,” alleged MohammadSalim.

So is it the media that is flaring up the big storm about the Indian cricket team performing poorly abroad?

"The media talks about cricket because it sells. They don’t talk about hockey, which is the national sport of our country. They don’t talk about kabaddi either. India, a country of over one billion people has never won a gold medal at the Olympics. Why doesn’t media talk about that? Perhaps because it will not make a news headline. Cricket will make a news headline because everybody watches it. Everybody wants to talk about cricket because it is the tree that is loaded with fruits the one that is pelted with stones. No one will ever kick a dead dog," said Sidhu.

Talk about inimitable 'Sidhuisms’ but it is perhaps a sum total of the immaturity of the media, the unprofessional nature of the politicians and the fickleness of the fans that together makes cricket not a game but a circus.

Final Verdict: Should our fans and politicians leave cricketers alone?

In CNN-IBN’s nationwide SMS poll, 81 per cent of the nation – a thumping majority said for God’s sake leave the poor cricketers alone.

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