India is not yet ready to play day-night cricket. That is what the BCCI has said when Australia sought to keep their tradition of playing in that format at Adelaide during India’s tour Down Under this year.
Oh why does the arrogant Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) pull its weight on things which are detrimental to cricket all the time?
It happened with the DRS system which India adopted only much later when they realised that their batsmen were getting the raw end of the stick.
It is felt in some cricket circles that India have their best chance to beat Australia in Australia now and that they don’t want to jeopardise it by playing day-night cricket as Australia have won all the former encounters at Adelaide.
They may be right. However, this is the best time for India to show their might and Australia are severely depleted by the bans on Steve Smith and David Warner, the former captain and vice-captain, who were a thorn in the flesh of all teams.
But you cannot take a step back as day-night cricket is here to stay. The pinnacle of every victory is overcoming all hurdles.
But India, in particular the Committee of Administration (CoA) of the BCCI, just loves to act as a stumbling block at every stage of progress.
Afghanistan are set to play their inaugural Test against India on June 14 at Bengaluru. And the BCCI promptly allows captain Virat Kohli to do a stint in the English County Championship in preparation for India’s tour there.
This is ridiculous. India may be the number one Test team now but rankings keep changing. The best must play at all times.
If cricket has to progress, newcomers must also be treated on par. Mind you, Afghanistan are no pushovers. They are a focused team and will want to do well in their inaugural Test.
Initially, there was a plan to rest all the key players and give a chance to newcomers. Thankfully, that plan was shelved.
Handing out cheap Test caps would be an insult to the numerous players in the past like spinners Padmakar Shivalkar, Rajinder Goel and others, who toiled many seasons taking a huge number of wickets but never got an India cap.
So don’t give a cap to players based on an odd piece of brilliance in any format. It has to be earned.
However, the selectors must be commended for taking a hard call on Rohit Sharma. He has been a failure in Tests so far, barring for a few big knocks here and there.
It was indeed sad that by keeping out India’s new captain for the Afghanistan match, Ajinkya Rahane, for Sharma probably cost India the South Africa series recently.
But playing around with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in Tests is not going to help the team. Fortunately both were picked for the Test. Ashwin, in fact, had foregone a contract to play for English county Worcestershire to take part in the Afghanistan Test.
If the selectors had dropped him, as was the initial plan, then Ashwin would have been left without any red ball cricket before the England tour.
Well, nothing comes as a surprise with the BCCI and its members. The CoA was formed to administer the board. But it seems to be slow to act and probably afraid to challenge to the BCCI.
Indian cricket is on the threshold on an exciting period in the game. There are so many new potential stars emerging for all formats. The BCCI better use less muscle and more brains to shape a bright future for the country.
- Mogambo Khush Hua! - July 13, 2019
- Five Spoofs To Make Your Day - July 7, 2019
- Have You Seen These Aamir Khan Classics? - June 29, 2019
