BCCI must address the systemic flaws that have led to recent controversies
It's difficult to understand as to what is going on at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) with regard to the appointment of a coach for the Indian team and the constitution of the coach's core team. On the face of it, everything appears to have fallen in place. A new coach has been named and he now has the support staff he wants. Besides, the new coach and the Indian captain are said to get along pretty well. Surely now, there is no need to quibble. Indeed, there isn't, but the manner in which the appointments have played out, can, in the most civil term, be considered as only bizarre. let's begin from the immediate beginning and go forward: Cricketing legend Anil Kumble quits as the coach over serious differences with the captain, Virat Kohli; Ravi Shastri, who had lost out to Kumble the last time around, emerges the favourite, though the BCCI goes through the motion of inviting applications from interested candidates; it becomes clear that Kohli strongly backs Shastri; soon after Shastri is named, the BCCI appoints two hugely respected former cricketers as specialised coaches — Rahul Dravid as batting coach for overseas series, and Zaheer Khan as the bowling coach; rumours begin that Shastri is unhappy with the two names and has asked for certain other people in their place; the BCCI soon thereafter names Bharat Arun as the bowling coach, with two others, Sanjay Bangar and R Sridhar, also forming part of the support staff; not knowing how to now place Dravid and Zaheer Khan in the new scheme of things, the BCCI calls the two high-respected veterans as “consultants”, but steers clear on clarifying their exact roles and how those would coalesce with that of the three-member coaching structure now headed by Shastri. It is obvious that, despite the best efforts of the premier cricketing body to project the ‘all is well' feel, all isn't well. No less than former legendary off-spinner EAS Prasanna, has been scathing in his criticism of the handling of the issue — there have been other dissenting voices too. There is no doubt that the BCCI could have handled the matter better.
So, what went wrongIJ It appears that the BCCI perhaps went overboard in accommodating Kohli's choice, and to the extent that the three-member committee which had been formed to select the coach and which consisted of the likes of no less than Sachin Tendulkar, VVS laxman and Saurav Ganguly, had to accept a choice not entirely to its liking. Then there was the selection of the coach's core team. It will be an exaggeration to claim that the Kohli-Shastri combine is taking over Indian cricket. However, there is no denying that the manner in which the recent affair has been handled, has left a bad taste in the mouth. While one should expect that, all said and done, the controversy ends and the Indian team concentrates on the work ahead, systemic flaws that exist in the functioning of the BCCI, need to be addressed.