Cricket is in a mess

If at all one needed any confirmation about cricket being in a mess, it came over the weekend with two episodes in different parts of the world.

The first was the unpardonable confusion in the rain-hampered World Cup final in Barbados and the second was the probe into former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly’s contract with a sponsor after an alleged 'bat longer to get more money' allegation.

The world body (ICC) and the Indian Board (BCCI) may have different methods of functioning but seem to share the lack of vision and expertise needed to spread and improve cricket.

To be a game competing with faster and more attractive ones at the world level is a challenge that the ICC faces, but does not seem to be coming to grips with, and its failure to make the World Cup attractive is something that they have to own up to. On the other hand, the BCCI has no competition but can't get its own house in order.

The ICC had its best men on duty for the World Cup final. The likes of Jeff Crowe, Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar have enough experience but still could not decipher rules that we all thought were clear. It was a rule discussed in schools, offices and by-lanes. There had been no doubt whatsoever about them stating that 20 overs per side were enough to decide the winners. But that was till the officials decided to sow doubts in the minds of keen followers of the game.

What we got in the end was bad advertisement for the game. The umpires not being clear about the rules before going on to the field is nothing but a joke and something that we can never imagine on the athletic track, a football field or on a basketball court.

Complications are not what people want and the key to popularizing the game in other countries of the Commonwealth and beyond is to keep things simple.

Imagine what a person getting acquainted to the game would have gone through towards the end of the final between Australia and Sri Lanka. What impression will he carry after realizing the comedy of errors that actually occurred, now that Crowe has apologized for the mistake?

The World Cup, which should have been the showpiece event for the game and the ICC, had as it is taken a bad hit during the tournament. As if the uninteresting format, lack of spectator interest and Bob Woolmer’s murder were not enough, the ICC officials also slipped up when all eyes were on them.

Back home, the Indian Board’s President Sharad Pawar almost confirmed what the rumour mills and the media had been circulating for some time _ that the contracts of some players included a clause which promised them more money for being in the middle for longer.

Ganguly, now one of the bigger punching bags in the country, was all but pronounced guilty before he offered his contract papers for scrutiny.

He was cleared, but all the mess showed how little the Board really respects its senior cricketers and also how it can create a controversy even when there is none.

The World Cup has been a debacle for both the ICC and the BCCI. There are lessons to learn for them and they need to pull up their socks really fast. The cushion provided by the hysteria the game creates in the sub-continent and among the expatriates should not be taken for granted for long.

More Headlines from

• Blog: The Indian Punch Line

• WHICH KAIF? KATRINA, OF COURSE!

• BCCI stomping on its own fodder

• Pace is all we need

• SRS: the big three