/p p Then, in this context, the decision of the BVCI to appoint Mohammad Azharuddin as captain of the India Veterans team can only be described as a cheap, ill-judged and unpatriotic publicity stunt - with no inherent semblance of nobility. /p p a href= http://www.hindu.
com/2007/02/05/stories/2007020507161900.htm target= _blank The Hindu /a reports that the Indian Veterans will play their Pakistani counterparts in a three-match one-day series, featuring big names of yesteryear such as Venkatesh Prasad, Manoj Prabhakar, Nayan Mongia and Chetan Chauhan, among others. /p p Nobody, especially not ex-cricketers, should need reminding of the circumstances around which Azharuddin was banned from participating in any official cricket matches and his record purged.
/p p It need not, and does not, matter that he was one of the most talented players of his generation. I too was an Azharuddin fan before the match-fixing scandal broke. What matters is that he sold his soul for a few extra notes in his back pocket and he betrayed hundreds of millions of his fans.
Azharuddin sold out his team mates and connived to pull the rug from under their feet. He does not possess the decency or integrity to make an honest buck and for this he should be labeled the traitor that he is. /p p People like Azharuddin do not deserve to rehabilitated and accepted back into society.
People who attempt to do so obviously do not have the courage to call him a liar and a cheat and ostracise him for committing one of the most heinous betrayals of faith possible in life. /p p Chetan Chauhan and his cronies at the BVCI should be ashamed of themselves and admonished for trying to make a quick rupee by using the name of a traitor. I loathe people who feel they need to partake in an entrepreneurial undertaking that glamourises cheats and traitors, whether they be players or spectators.
/p p All talk about how patriotic we are as a nation amounts to pure and utter dribble when our own do not have the common sense to place personal integrity and national pride above their own back pockets. /p p Azharuddin deserves to rot, and rot alone. Harsh, but true.
/p
Right? /p p Wrong!!
/p p Dilip Vengsarkar and his wise friends finally took our advice and dropped Virender Sehwag, so that he could return to domestic cricket and find his touch again. Only that, there is a distinct dearth of domestic matches being played for Sehwag to go back to basics in. /p p Thankfully, the Almighty has instilled enough sense into the powers-that-be within the Delhi Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) for them to a href= http://content-aus.
cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/278147.html organise /a a practice match or two for the fallen Indian hero.
As a result he has been able to show us that he can take a trick. Sehwag has lost weight, scored runs and grown a beard - the quintessential mark of wounded tiger (read, man) poised to pounce once more. /p p The real story is that Virender Sehwag got lazy and tired.
Every professional faces a point in their career where they need a break, a change of scenery, maybe even a jolt that awakens them from their deep slumber. Sehwag will return to Team India all the better for his own personal jolt. He will return to international cricket knowing how it feels not to be there.
/p p Do not commit the mistake of assuming that it is only Sehwag that needs Team India. This is as much a give and take relationship as any successful marriage (I don t necessarily mean in a typically Indian sense, either). Virender Sehwag provides attacking options and prowess that a captain would die for.
Whether that be at the top of the order or in the middle of it. A fully fit and in-form Sehwag coming in to bat in the 28th over will give opposition captains big headaches. /p p For all of Team India s heroics over the past couple of weeks the middle order is still brittle.
Suresh Raina has seemingly forgotten how to hold a bat, Yuvraj Singh is badly undercooked and I remain hugely skeptical of the Dinesh Karthik experiment. With Mohammad Kaif unlikely (and rightly so too) to be selected for the final World Cup squad, a middle order inhabited by both Karthik and Raina is a gamble that India cannot afford. /p p For all the success achieved by comeback kid Sourav Ganugly (more on him later), my man Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir, there is still plenty of space for Virender Sehwag.
/p p Team India needs Virender Sehwag if they are to win the World Cup. /p
The days when selectorial whims were given higher priority than talent. The days when for the good of Indian cricket was just a pretty phrase that held no significance for the 5 wise men. /p p All the commendable weening performed by Kiran More and his gang, spurred in no small manner by Greg Chappell, has been drastically undone in the space of two selection committee meetings.
More and co were eventually persuaded to take tough decisions for the benefit of Indian cricket. The twin goals of ridding the team of conflicting influences and under-performing stars and injecting fresh talent were successfully achieved. /p p Players like Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble were jettisoned from one or both teams (Test and ODI) for a multitude of reasons that included fitness issues, prolonged loss of form and attitude.
The new talent that took their place was asked to exhibit the right attitude and a willingness to learn and develop their games. Along the way, the new blood was given the opportunity to display flashes of brilliance. /p p After achieving resounding success in their first season, international cricketers have found the going a lot tougher in the subsequent period.
Opposition teams work on the player s weaknesses and/or the player may also lose the touch that had earlier befriended him. /p p Question being, after you have decided to bite the bullet and commit your resources to developing new talent, would not your investment in youth be better served by creating and testing a pool of new players, in the event that one or two of them lose form or are found to be unfit for international cricket? If a young player has lost form after an extended run, would it not make more sense to ask him to return to domestic cricket whilst replacing him with a another talented young gun who has been performing as well, if not better than the experienced players that were initially dropped?
/p p Most people would answer with a resounding, YES! /p p What has Ganguly achieved in domestic cricket to warrant a recall to the national team? A solitary century at a strike rate of under 50, against an attack of Ashish Nehra, G Singh, J Sharma and and R Sharma does not maketh a champion again.
Anybody who thinks that Ganguly is back in form is kidding himself. /p p While Ganguly is pointing to a lone century, what magnificent feat has VVS Laxman performed over the last two months in domestic cricket to earn a recall to the ODI team? Nothing.
When he was given a chance to prove his ODI credentials, his fitness (surprise, surprise) was found wanting. Surely, it would have made more sense to replace Rahul Dravid with any one of Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa or even Rohit Sharma. /p p Furthermore, what was the rationale behind handing the vice-captaincy to Laxman?
I have been opining for some time that Virender Sehwag (and Suresh Raina, for that matter) needs to play some domestic one-day cricket to find his touch again and work out what works for him in the game s shorter version. However, was it necessary to strip him of the vice-captaincy just before he was required to lead his team on the field of play for the remainder of the ODI series. Was it necessary to give it to a man who is not guaranteed a place in either team?
I think not. /p p A struggling team is not going to be helped by the presence of out-of-form players, no matter how experienced they may be. Experience has its place in sport, but, not if it is not supported by form.
/p p The only signals emanating from the Vengsarkar selection committee is that if you engage in enough politicking through the media and can produce one significant performance in a whole year of domestic cricket, you will have done enough to qualify for selection. Hell, Laxman has proved that you do not even have to score meaningful runs to earn an esteemed leadership position with the team s management structure. /p p We all rejoiced when many of the old ills of Indian cricket ended with the inception of the John Wright era.
We can all cringe now, for those very ills are well and truly back. /p p Thank you Dilip Vengsarkar, you are doing Indian cricket proud. /p
There is simply no other way it can be said - the three member panel that adjudicated on Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif s guilt have treated Shoaib Akhtar unjustly in this instance. /p p By now, we have all heard of the a href= http://www.theage.
com.au/news/cricket/akhtar-ban-could-be-the-end/2006/11/02/1162339984547.html target= _blank sentences /a handed down to the two drug cheats.
From the outset, I had very little doubt that these two were as guilty, as guilty could be. Moreover, after being given the option, the pair refused to have their B-samples retested. This, over and above all else, is the most damming evidence to date that both players knew exactly what they were taking and why it has been banned from practically every sport played on this planet.
/p p However, I was surprised - bordering on shocked - to learn that Mohammad Asif had received a lesser sentence than Shoaib Akthar. To a reasonable person, this would seem totally inexplicable and unreasonable. Why should two players accused of exactly the same crime, at exactly the same time, be treated differently.
Upon hearing this news, my mind raced back to the South African match-fixing debacle where Cronje and Herschelle Gibbs received two vastly different sentences, for exactly the same offence. /p p The reasons for the disparate sentences are feeble and contradictory. Intikhab Alam was a member of the doping panel and had this to say on Shoaib Akhtar: br/ blockquote He [Shoaib] drinks alcohol, has an active sex life and he s been part of anti-doping awareness programmes.
Shoaib has been around for the last ten years and the written statement that his spokesman gave about him taking dietary supplements and not consulting a doctor, shows he was negligent. /blockquote and this on Mohammad Asif: br/ blockquote We decided to ban him for a year because his English is not that good, he comes from a remote village where he would not have been educated on the dangers of drugs in sport and so he doesn t understand. /blockquote Australians who smuggle drugs to Asian countries cannot claim innocence simply because they do not understand the language of a particular country.
No matter what language you speak, everybody knows drugs are illegal and dealing or using them attracts harsh penalties. In real life and in sporting life. There should not be any if s or but s on this issue.
/p p Hell, Asif didn t even have to know English to find out if a substance was banned. He could ve handed the supplement to his team doctor and got the right information, in an instant. Further rubbishing this reasoning was a categorical statement from the PCB at the outset of this fracas, explaining that all players partake in mandatory and comprehensive drug-education programs.
If this indeed was the reason for the leniency afforded to Asif, the entire Panel should hang their heads in shame. I am inclined to believe the real reason has more to do with the need of the Pakistani team to have Asif back in action, at the earliest. /p p We all know Shoaib Akhtar is no angel, even he would cringe at the thought.
The bad-boy image is something he craves and goes to great lengths to perpetuate. However, that should never have been held against him in a situation such as this. For the Panel to consider the fact that he drinks or has sex is unequivocally unjust.
Is Alam insinuating that being sexually active makes a player guilty by default? If Alam s conjugal life has a few shortcomings, he should seek counselling. He should not be condemning others for getting a bit more than he.
/p p Both players should have received maximum penalties. However, thanks to the inconsistent signals emanating from the said Panel, Shoaib Akhtar should be feeling quite aggrieved at the minute. If I were in his place, I would be too.
Both players were equally guilty of cheating and committing inexcusable crimes. There was no reason for their cases to be judged on different levels. /p p Drugs have no place in any sport.
This was cricket s chance to send clear messages to all concerned. Instead, much like the South African handling the match-fixing scandal, the Pakistani Panel has proven itself to capable of only serving its national interest. It has nobody but itself to blame for all the scorn and disdain that will be heaped upon it after this atrocious decision.
It is time that cricket administrators started to take the issue of drugs in cricket seriously. No self-respecting cricket fan wants to see cricket head the baseball way. At least, not I.
/p blockquote ...
everyone s read about and expressed an opinion on cricket s latest scandal - Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif failing a drugs test. That Shoaib would partake of a banned substance probably does not come as a surprise to many, but I suspect even the most hardened cynic would be shocked at what goes on in the cricketing world. /blockquote and br/ blockquote .
..some of the things I have either seen with my own eyes, or heard about from one or more of the parties involved include: br/ li Recreational drug use (okay, that one s not going to surprise anyone) /li li Discussion of how to start with creatine (not considered doping, although it s banned in many countries), and go on from there /li li Cricketers on the phone to their wives whilst in bed with someone else (no, this is not one of the ones where I was standing in the room) br/ /li li Notes being passed between the dressing room and groupies with arrangements of where and when to meet /li li Requests to officials/management to arrange dates with specific types of women /li li Exchange of love letters over many years with multiple women (by married cricketers, of course) /li /blockquote /p p I fear that his writing is the voicing of a common misconception amongst cricket lovers and watchers.
/p p First things first. I consider the taxi driver who helped me get to a meeting today, a hardened cynic . According to him, we should replace all computers, including the one that tells him the location of his next passenger, with papers and pens.
Why? Because, pens don t break down - do they? I am not sure he realises exactly how much that computer has helped him earn the living that he does.
For all intents and purposes, this man should join the Amish community. /p p Shock horror, shock horror. Why am I talking about a taxi driver (Don was his name, by the way) when our cricket bat/ball brandishing starts are committing sins of adultery and (shock, horror) recreational drug consumption?
You will find out soon. /p p Let me first remind all and sundry that the above statements are mere allegations, not proven by any conclusive evidence, yet. In the case of performance enhancing drugs, it s probably because cricketing authorities are years behind where they should be in relation to their testing programs.
Secondly and more importantly, I ask you: what does it matter if these activities do indeed take place on a regular basis, as the Fourth Umpire implies? /p p I do not condone the use of recreational drugs, for I have witnessed first hand the damage they cause to the healthiest of people. b Kids, do not take drugs - of any variety.
/b However, if a cricketer stupidly decides to ignore all expert advice and evidence and consume recreational and/or performance enhancing drugs, he should be punished appropriately. /p p That is not the point, however. Why should we be shocked to learn that cricketers are any different to other sports stars.
We have had plenty of instances of cricketers being a href= http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/columns/content/current/story/263383.
html caught /a taking recreational drugs. Cricketers in some countries enjoy the same lifestyles and vices of footballers and movies stars. It does not take a rocket scientist to deduce that some have, and will, continue to succumb to the power of fame and peer pressure and pop a pill or smoke a joint off the field.
If you thought otherwise, welcome back to the real world. /p p Additionally, if I was a sportsperson I would also take great offence to the addition of a href= http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Creatine creatine /a to the list above. Creatine is not, and has never been, considered an illegal substance in the world of sport. The fact that some countries ban it, is no reason to cast a shadow of suspicion over honest people.
Some countries ban women from voting, even cynical Don would not consider that an acceptable practice. /p p The remainder of the Fourth Umpire s list concerns the infidelity of our revered cricketers. No matter what corner of the world you live in, you will know of at least one person who has cheated on their partner/spouse.
Unfortunately, it is a very common event in this day and age. We all know that. Then, why is it so shocking to hear of cricketers cheating on their wives?
/p p I don t, for the shortest second, pretend that cheating on your partner is acceptable. However, once again cricketers are human beings, just like you and I. That they happen to hit or bowl a ball better than most of us is no reason to expect them to be morally or ethically superior to the rest of their species.
I am sure even cynical Don has heard of the many high profile philanderers in the world of sport and is not naive enough to believe that us normal people along with football stars and politicians can commit adultery, but not our esteemed cricketers. /p p The fact that single cricketers enjoy the company of women and seek to spend time with them, away from their profession, should not be cause for concern. The girls involved, almost always, willing partake in the shenanigans.
Every boy and his dog has, at some point in his life, wished to live the glamorous life - replete with groupies and good looking women. Then, why do we con ourselves into believing our cricketers are any different to the rest of us. They are living their dream and making the most of their appeal while they can.
If they are unfaithful to their partners, they will eventually be found out and punished accordingly. /p p Even after constant reminders via the media about exalted personalities falling from grace, it astounds me as to why the cricket watching public refuses to believe that cricketers are any different from us. They only have 36 chromosomes, just like you.
They only have one brain, just like you. They want to be loved and adored, just like you. Even the innocent, simple gentlemen that play our great game are made up of flesh and bones, just like you.
Why, then, should they not be susceptible to committing the same mistakes as you? /p p Wake up and smell the roses, ladies and gentlemen. Even when the spirit is willing, the flesh will always remain weak.
/p
The reason for my request, you ask? Put it down to a superbly articulate, reasonable and impressive a href= http://content-aus.cricinfo.
com/ci/content/current/story/264261.html target= _blank riposte from Inderjit Singh Bindra /a to Mike Coward s outrageous insinuations in a href= http://www.theaustralian.
news.com.au/wireless/story/0,8262,10-20617223,00.
html target= _blank The Australian /a . In Eminem s words, the real Slim Shady has indeed stood up. /p p I would not ordinarily endorse an organisation such as the BCCI replying to absurd and unfounded criticisms by a particular journalist or media outlet.
However, I get the feeling that Bindra s (and by association, the BCCI s) response is out of shear frustration at the innuendo, posing as comments, being published by respected cricket experts and journalists. It seems to me that Coward s musings were merely the final straw, hence, he copped it from Bindra - in fine style too. /p p This situation was calling out for a respected and reasonable member of the reigning BCCI regime to present a sophisticated and pointed response to the rubbish that has been gushing from the pens of the said writers.
For this reason alone, I applaud Bindra for taking this step. I continually fail to understand why widespread panic and sinister implications must follow any announcements by non-Anglo-Australian organisations with regard to employing ingenious strategies for their betterment. This issue, however, is best left for another post.
/p p In his piece, Bindra has allegedly admitted that Lalit Modi has often exhibited excessive zeal and volatility . He dilutes his assessment by implying that these characteristics are only exhibited after provocation from his adversaries. I beg to differ.
/p p Modi seems like a great ideas man. If all white-coated scientists were also geniuses at marketing then they would not retain advisors and consultants to help sell their inventions. Similarly, Modi needs to be kept in the background (take a leaf out of John Wright s book if you will).
Sure, allow him a prominent position on the various sub-committees of the BCCI. Involve him in generating ideas for new revenue sources and opportunities. Allow him to offer his opinion on how to rankle a badly administered, toothless and thoughtless behemoth, that is the ICC.
But, for God s sake, do not let him talk to the media. /p p The corporate world goes ga-ga over specialists. They are paid large sums to do an effective job, with efficiency.
It is high time the BCCI was run like a prudent corporate entity. Hire a Media Manager and ensure that all incoming calls to Modi s phone from journalists are diverted to the new Media Manager, before Modi has the slightest chance to be tempted to blurt angry nonsense. /p p In the meantime, let people of the calibre of Bindra do the talking - with the ICC and to the media.
He may not be everyone s knight in shining armour. He may have made mistakes in his past life, too. However, where the world is on its axis at the minute, Bindra and all of his ilk are best placed to progress the interests of the BCCI and Indian cricket in general, ambitious or otherwise (depending on the colour of your glasses).
/p
Now answer this, what is abnormal for you? A car crash? Losing an arm or a leg, maybe?
Probably something that does not happen all that often, right? /p p On a day when Inzimam ul Haq has been a href= http://content-aus.cricinfo.
com/ci/content/current/story/264241.html target= _blank forced to defend /a his off-field captaincy methods, his national coach Bob Woolmer tries to a href= http://content-aus.cricinfo.
com/pakistan/content/story/264180.html target= _blank make us believe /a that the current scandals surrounding Pakistani cricket are not normal service . Either he is shamefully uneducated about the modern history of Pakistani cricket, or he thinks we were born yesterday.
/p p The Pakistani team we have been treated to over the past season or two is hardly normal. It has recently been a team of settled, focussed and motivated players who have managed to keep themselves out of trouble (to a large extent). It is a reformed Pakistani outfit, not one that is normal .
/p p Normal, for Pakistani cricket, is when star players have thinly veiled arguments with their captain/team-mates through the media; is when star players miss training camps due to dubious injuries; is when their is a new captain after every two or three series; generally, is when players make the headlines, occasionally for brilliant on-field heroics, mostly for immature/foolish/downright idiotic histrionics. I would i almost /i be inclined to opine that the most recent a href= http://desicritics.org/2006/10/19/024909.
php Shoaib Akthar episode /a is more normal than anything we have seen since Woolmer has been coach. /p p Woolmer also touches on an interesting point in his article, something I was dwelling on when I read reports of the latest match-fixing goings-on by the Delhi Police. He writes, I guess that my career as a coach will go down as one with its fair share of controversy and trying to explain exactly what really happened.
/p p Does anybody, other than me, find it minutely mysterious that Bob Woolmer has been at the helm of both teams that have been involved in, arguably, the two most scandalous events that our great sport has had inflicted upon it? Only knowing the man through various media portrayals, I am hardly qualified to perform a character assassination at this point in time. However, the question must be asked: is there something lacking in Bob Woolmer that puts his charges in the wrong place at extremely wrong times?
/p p I will leave it to you all to ponder. Until then, let us all be entertained by Pakistani cricket s normal service . /p p This performance enhancing concoction may be new to cricket, but I m sure you would have heard of the myriad of other high-profile names banned for using the substance (remember sprinter a href= http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Johnson_%28athlete%29 target= _blank Ben Johnson /a ). What s more, Shoaib s opening bowling partner, Mohammad Asif, has also tested positive for the same substance.
/p p We must be careful now, since it has only been alleged that these two are drug cheats. However, after reading and watching all of Shoaib Akhtar s antics on and off the cricket pitch over the last decade and a bit, are you really surprised that he has been caught up in a mess of this nature? Akhtar goes out of his way to attract attention for himself.
Flashy cars, bright lights, A-list Bollywood parties, a badly put on American accent when deemed appropriate, feigned injuries, dodgy action, bust-ups with the captain - the list is endless. For mine, this latest revelation seems like a natural progression. /p blockquote The President of Pakistan has asked me not to comment in any detail at this stage and I want to respect his wishes, so I will keep my message short.
/blockquote /p p Ya, that and John Howard rang me to inform me that he has chosen me as his successor over Peter Costello. Please. If you are going to lie, at least make it believable.
Politicians will always be politicians. President Mushy would not want to touch Shoaib Akhtar with a ten foot pole at present, no matter how many copies of his book Akthar was prepared buy. /p p What was Shoiab Akhtar trying to achieve by bringing President Musharraf into this, anyway?
If it was credibility he was after, surely there are other more creditable people in Pakistan. Then again, maybe he did not want sully their reputations, so President Mushy turned out to be a good fit. Who knows?
One would think, he could have come up with a decent excuse at least, eg. my Mom said I needed to look fatter for the Champions Trophy so I took the pills she gave me. /p p I am also very suspicious of exactly how Mohammad Asif became embroiled in this mess.
Here s an impressionable young kid who oozes talent and class, he is partnered with the newly reformed Akthar (remember those stories about the new Shoaib after the last England tour to Pakistan?) and by all accounts they get on like a house on fire. Then, in less than a year both of them manage to return positive drug tests.
Maybe its just my suspicious mind, but this does not seem like a coincidence to me. /p p I am willing to believe that this may just be a case of wrong medicine at the wrong time. However, having witnessed Shoaib Akhtar s immature, self-obsessed and narcissistic nature through the media over the years (including his latest explanation), I am equally willing to believe that this was a deliberate attempt to cheat his body and the game.
It is up to Akhtar and Asif to come clean and tell us the real truth, no matter how bitter it may taste. /p p Just as an aside, I wonder what Shane Warne thinks of this shamozzle. Every a href= http://specials.
rediff.com/cricket/2006/oct/16sld1.htm target= _blank case /a before his involved only recreational drugs (not that I condone them either).
It was only thanks to his Mummy that the cricketing world sat up and acknowledged that it was not immune to drugs and their taking. 1 year, two years or life, Warney? /p
You had probably just sat down with your bowl of cereal and switched on your TV to tune into the latest stock market news, political squabbling or to catch up with the latest reports from the enthralling Ashes series. Undoubtedly, you were shocked to hear of the blasts. /p p Some would have given a thought to the safety of the cricketers, but most would never have considered that the English and Aussie cricketers may have been caught in the middle of terrorist attacks.
After all, how many international cricketers travel by bus and subway when they are on tour? I recall, on a personal level, the need of the hour was to ensure all family and friends in London were safe. /p p A year on, in another angle on the cowardly blasts a man who purports to know the family of one of the London bombers has a href= http://www.
abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1758363.
htm target= _blank claimed /a that the original target for the bombs were not the busses and trains of London s public transport system, but the venue of the second Ashes test, Edgbaston. According to him, the plan was for the bombers to gain employment at the ground and spray sarin gas into the changing rooms of both teams during the match. /p p He further claims that the plans were modified only after one of the bombers objected, because - get this - he was a passionate cricket fan.
No security agency had even an inkling that this was the case. Initial reports suggest that security experts are not convinced of these claims. I would like to know why this man did not come forward before the London bombings.
/p p I must confess, that although these claims are chilling, I do not believe that a minor scuffle between a suicide bomber and his leader will result in a change of plans that would have been hatched by their superiors. From the post-mortems of other terrorist attacks, we have learnt that the men on the ground have very little knowledge of the actual event until just prior to zero hour. /p p I am not a terrorist, nor am I an expert on terrorism, but from what little I understand of the mindset of Islamic terrorists I was of the view that they considered nothing sacred in front of Allah and the Holy Quran, forget philandering infidels who play cricket and SMS young blonde bimbos.
Accordingly, if a prospective Jihad-ist rebels against eminent plans crafted by the organisation s hierarchy, wouldn t be be summarily dismissed from the group - via a bullet through the head, one would assume? /p p Ricky Ponting and his Australian team have just landed in India for the Champions Trophy. In my opinion, the levels of security provided for visiting teams in India is second-to-none and Ponting and Cricket Australia a href= http://www.
theage.com.au/news/cricket/plot-to-gas-ashes-players/2006/10/09/1160246036834.
html target= _blank subscribe /a to this theory, officially at least. It is heartening to note that the players are also kept up-to-date with such news and are free to discuss their feelings with the media. /p p What is interesting, though, is Ponting s admission in his book that there is a level of inconsistency in how the team deals with terror attacks.
Apparently, in his last Ashes tour diary he wrote, If we were in, say, Pakistan or Sri Lanka and something like this had happened, I am sure we would have been on the first plane out. This is a separate issue altogether. However, I do wonder how close London was or Mumbai will be to joining that list if a blast were to take place on the public transport system during the Champions Trophy?
/p p Alas, I digress. These latest claims must alert everyone involved with the staging of sporting events, not just cricket, to the wide range of security risks that must be mitigated. This revelation (can it be called that, even if it may be untrue?
) has surely prompted the end of recruitment practices that do not mandate background and security checks prior to an offer. No more offering jobs to young gentlemen for no other reason than that they happen to play at your local cricket club and have shown a sudden interest in cleaning changing rooms. /p p We can only wait for the next blast, for there probably will be more.
Hope and pray that the people who have prior knowledge do the right thing, the sensible and humane thing. Until then, life must go on. As must the cricket.
/p
html target= blank agitated /a that the BCCI is not soliciting their considered opinions before entering into sponsorship agreements. What s new you ask? What s new is that there is a hot-headed firebrand in the upper echelons of the current BCCI regime that does not seem to think twice before a href= http://wwwc1.
cricinfo.com/india/content/current/story/261663.html target= spouting /a inflammatory and ill-judged opinions to journalists.
/p p Backtracking just a little, the players are unhappy that the BCCI has signed an agreement with Pantaloon to supply Team India s formal wear. No doubt the contract between the BCCI and Pantaloon allows the use of Indian players to promote the brand. The article does not discuss the exact point of difference on this issue, but does state this beef is one in a long list that includes the Nike deal where players are forced to wear the Nike swoosh on their trousers, a spot usually reserved for the logo of their individual sponsor.
To further complicate the issue, Nike is now using the players names and numbers on T-shirts (not replica India shirts) sold to the general public (image courtesy a href= http://www.cricinfo.com/ target= _blank CricInfo /a ).
br/ In American sport, which defined the model that all other sports now follow, a player s name and number belongs to him/her, not the team or the administrative body/employer. This model has been copied by football, rugby league and even by the other cricket Boards. /p p For example, Adidas can use the name Ponting and the number 1 on replica Australian shirts, but cannot sell another item of clothing with these specific details alone, because Ricky Ponting is contracted to Kookaburra for apparel sponsorship and not Adidas.
Similarly in television advertisements, Ford, the new sponsor of the domestic one-day competition in Australia, must use at least four (instead of just one) Australian players in an advertisement so that it does not imply that any of the players is individually endorsing the brand, if they do not have a personal sponsorship arrangement with the company. /p p I do not understand how the scenario would be any different with the Indian model. If this is the case then Nike would be deemed to be in breach of their agreement by using individual player names and numbers on items other than the official replica kits of Team India.
/p p However, if the agreement between the BCCI , Nike and any other sponsor allows this to occur, then any number of the following could be true: br/ ul li The Board has illegally sold the player s personal property (eg. names and numbers), because this is something which it would not ordinarily own. /li li The BCCI is milking the players for all their worth creating a great deal of mistrust, hardly the perfect foundation for a healthy commercial relationship.
/li li The BCCI is yet to realise that it is making these huge sums of the backs of the very players who its is trying to spurn and/or subdue. /li /ul /p p In his response to the players qualms, Lalit Modi has opined that the BCCI owns all player attributes ; that there is no clause in the players contracts which stipulates that the Board must contact them before it signs any agreements; and that the players should be happy with all that they are given and stop being greedy. /p p Modi may be an astute businessman and he has, undoubtedly, played his part in helping the BCCI acheive its current financial strength.
However, I find it hard to believe anything that he has put forth in the Board s defence on this issue. /p p Firstly, I cannot see how the players lawyers would have allowed them to sign away their personal attributes, such as names and numbers, for that is i their /i brand that they have played hard to build. Secondly, the BCCI may not have to consult the players before signing sponsorship agreements, but they cannot legally sell what is probably not their asset, in the first instance (ie.
player attributes). Thirdly, players are absolutely entitled to fight for every last cent that is earned by the BCCI, because it has been earned off their sweat. Modi and his cohorts are not on the field baking away in the hot sun, copping thunderbolts from bowlers trying to take their heads off.
/p p Of course, I am not privy to the exact clauses of the agreements between the various parties, however, I do not, for one second, believe Modi has a leg to stand on with his latest rant. Lalit Modi makes degrades himself and the BCCI by thundering to journalists in this manner. It s blatantly obvious that journalists dial his number first when there is a potential issue brewing, because they know there will be a sound-bite, or three, at the end of the call.
/p p What on earth is Sharad Pawar doing by allowing this menace to babble inane, probably inaccurate, rubbish? The team gets a Media Manager when they travel, but the BCCI is in greater need of it right now, especially if Lalit Modi continues to have anything to do with its functioning. /p p This saga, more than anything else, should prove the pressing need for a Players Association that represents their interests at every corner.
It is quite clear that the people who matter within the BCCI do not give two hoots for the players interests. These men will auction off the players at the mere sight of an extra buck, all in the name of advancing the cause of cricket. Please, save me the propoganda.
/p p Get your act together boys, otherwise you will have no more than the shirts on your back - not even your own names.
News RSS