Pay the players, sack Manohar

The national disgruntlement and collective dismay over India's miserable surrender at Durban, South Africa is understandable.

Rahul Dravid and his Men in Blue have been justifiably criticised for a lackadaisical show, lacking in either game plan, smart skills, or a gutsy survivor attitude.

Now with India's disastrous performance echoing in Parliament, out comes another BCCI Vice-President, Mr Shashank Manohar, who tells the billion people of India that BCCI has "absolutely no responsibility" whatsoever with India's cricketing performance.

In that case, why Manohar and one Lalit Modi are not managing kabaddi and kho-kho beats me?

Mr Manohar, instead of trying to encourage and motivate his battered team, has joined the current bandwagon of critics mostly because it suits BCCI politically and as a public relations exercise to distance itself from India's atrocious hara-kiri a few days ago.

BCCI sure makes for a duplicitous, treacherous parent-body with double-standards.

So according to Manohar, when the going is great, BCCI will appropriate full credit for being a "professional institution committed to the betterment of Indian cricket".

When the going gets tough, however, BCCI will hang the Indian players by the tallest tree with the thinnest thread, and leave them dangling for the vultures. By this logic, it is evident that BCCI is being managed by true-blue mercenaries.

I have always maintained (readers are requested to read my blogs) that the principal culprit for India's shoddy showing over the years has been the BCCI; the organization that is supposed to run a game which holds a nation spell-bound, inspires dreams, builds hopes and drives us all insane.

By making the bizarre statement that the Indian players (which includes two all-time greats Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid) "should not be paid a penny" for their flop show in Durban, Manohar has revealed the selfish, exploitative and manipulative mind-set of BCCI, which at the time of writing must be far too busy negotiating commercial rights for helmet branding.

Worse, it is insulting and humiliating for the entire Indian team trying to stage a come-back.