A vision for the present

Late evening yesterday, I attended a media briefing hosted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

No sooner had we journalists taken our seats, than BCCI president Dr A C Muthiah -- in brisk, businesslike, in-command fashion -- began spelling out a series of measures. Here is the itemised list, as the board president gave it to us:

• On Monday, August 28, the BCCI executive will meet to decide the identity of India's coach. At the time, the executive will also appoint an expert in sports medicine, a doctor, a psychologist and a media manager.

• On Tuesday, August 29, the national selectors will meet to pick 26 players to form the base of India's team for the coming season.

• Within three days of the announcement of the names, the selected players will be expected to report to the national coaching academy in Bangalore for a four-week spell. The national coach, physiotherapist, sports medicine expert, doctor, psychologist and media manager will be present for the duration of the camp.

• Yesteryears Indian stars such as Sunil Gavaskar, EAS Prasanna, Bishen Singh Bedi, S Venkatraghavan, Mohinder Amarnath, Eknath Solkar and others have been hired for the duration, to be present at the camp and provide coaching inputs.

• Approaches have been made to various international specialists such as Vivian Richards, Dean Jones, Ian Chappell, Dennis Lillee, Rodney Marsh, Mike Brearley and others. A host of past international stars, specialists in the fields of batting, bowling, fielding, and captaincy, will visit the camp during the month-long exercise, to share with the inmates their expertise and insights.

That is it, gentlemen, any questions?

Completely bemused by what we had heard, we had very few questions to ask. As under:

When you say the selected 26 will form the core of India's team for the coming season, what does it mean?

Muthiah: It means, gentlemen, that these 26 will form the bank from which the selectors will pick the squads for various tours and tournaments to be played in the upcoming season.

Players outside of this list don't get to make it to the national team?

Muthiah: Acting under instructions from the board, the national selectors have for the last two weeks been examining records, gathering inputs from various zones, and reviewing domestic and international matches played in the last season. The object of the exercise was to shortlist all possible players deemed to have sufficient talent to play for the country. Yes, if during the coming domestic season, new players do emerge, they will be considered by the selectors and added on to this bank.

What is the purpose of selecting a bank of players in such a fashion? Will it not then dishearten those players who have not made the cut and who, knowing they won't get to play top cricket, will lose interest in the domestic variety?

Muthiah: We believe that to click as a team, you have to train and live together as a team. Further, we believe that it is only by such interaction that both seniors and upcoming players will get familiar with each other's game, and from this familiarity, confidence in each other will be bred. Further, while idiosyncratic styles are what add spice to the team, we believe that certain basic techniques especially in areas such as fitness, fielding, and running between wickets, have to be drilled into all players. We therefore wish to have not only the playing squad, but their most likely replacements, practise these techniques together. This also means that when and if a regular team member breaks down or is otherwise out of the team, his replacement would mesh right into the squad, by virtue of having trained with the seniors.

As to whether players who do not make the cut will get disheartened, we believe the greatest asset for a sportsman is a big heart. There are two ways to go. One is to give up and say, okay, why bother, I won't make it to the national team. The other is to go the I'll-show-you route, perform brilliantly in the domestic league and force the selectors to rethink and draft you into the squad.

You mentioned the naming of a coach -- does this mean that Kapil Dev's tenure has come to an end?

Muthiah: You gentlemen have been reporting in your columns that the Board has been approaching the likes of Rodney Marsh, Geoff Marsh, Dean Jones, Bobby Simpson and others for the post of head coach -- surely you believe your own reports? And surely, the Board wouldn't be approaching other candidates if it had no intention to replace Kapil Dev?

What are the reasons for the replacement? Are they in any way linked to the match-fixing investigations?

Muthiah: Not directly, no. I would like to clarify that Kapil Dev being raided, or the allegations surrounding him, have had no bearing on our decision. It is based partly on an evaluation of his tenure as coach, partly on the feedback the board has sought and procured from senior players, and partly on his own statement, and our subsequent discussions, that he feels embittered and in no mood to focus on cricket.

But will a new coach, irrespective of his nationality, make any qualitative difference?

Muthiah: We have drawn up a new contract, for the new coach. And one of the terms incorporated into this contract is that the role of selectors will begin, and end, with selecting the team for a tour or series. Even here, the coach will be a voting member of the selection panel. And once the team is named, the coach will have complete powers -- he will chose the playing side, and has the right to drop or pick players without reference to any other authority. We believe that once a good coach is picked, and given such powers, the players will automatically fall into line, discipline will improve as will performance. And that is all I have time for today, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here. Any and all further questions, requests for interviews and other media-related matters can be addressed to the media manager, who will be named on Monday.

And with that, Muthiah walked out.

And I woke up.

It was a nice dream while it lasted, though.

For two months and more now, India has not played any international cricket. It was a heaven-sent opportunity, this hiatus, to begin the process of change, of transformation. I remember once, during a chat with Andrew Kokinos, I asked him how come despite his expertise, a bulk of our players remained below international standards of fitness. His response was, "During the season, you cannot work on extending a player's fitness level through high-intensity exercises -- you have to conserve his energies in order to enable him to play. So all you do in season is maintenance work -- to increase fitness levels, what I need is a camp of at least 14 days, where I can really push the guys, extend their parameters. Unfortunately, given the tight schedule, I am not getting that space I need."

The same, come to think of it, goes for coaching -- batting, bowling, whatever. When you are in the middle of a season, you don't tinker with technique -- you only effect running repairs as required by the exigencies of form. It is during the off season that you can, and should, work on the finer points, hone your game, acquire additional skills which can be tried in practise without affecting your match performance.

All this, and more, could have been accomplished over the last 60 days. In the event, all we have had is one executive committee meeting in Bangalore, called apparently to decide where they would meet next, and when.

What was it the board said it was putting together, or had put together? A vision for the future?

I'll gladly settle for a vision for the present, from this lot.

But there I go -- dreaming again.

Postscript: Did you notice how, lately, words like dream, and hope, keep cropping up in the columns published in the media, in the emails and guest columns written by fans? The media and fans alike have all, lately, been reduced to wishing, dreaming, hoping, praying.

What does that tell you about Indian cricket, and its governing authority?

Prem Panicker

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