With the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials and former Chief Justice R.M. Lodha making their displeasure known after the Committee of Administrators (CoA) asked the coach and captain to decide on travel schedules of WAGs, the next thing you hear is a senior player had flouted the ‘family clause’ during the World Cup. Board officials can’t believe that there is discord over the schedule of WAGs.
Speaking to IANS, a senior board official said that if thestories on the rift in the team weren’t bad enough, to now see stories oversomeone’s family travelling and their schedule shows the current state ofaffairs in the board and how it needs immediate addressing.
“When things are mismanaged and authority andadministration give way to fanboy decision-making — a quest for popularopinion and personal favours — the result can be disastrous.
“Fighting over travel of WAGs? Such a situation hasn’tarisen in the history of the BCCI where now there appears to be a general stateof discord and even the families of players are seen as fair game for criticismvia different agents as has been reported.
“Bizarre reports are emerging about interference fromcertain family members of players which hasn’t gone down well with otherplayers, about someone’s family spending more time than was permitted etc. Inthis background, it has also emerged that despite the conflict of interestrules in place, decisions on travel of families will now depend on the captainand coach themselves and everyone has heard Justice Lodha’s views on thisnow.”
“Earlier, during the IPL Finals you had the wife of avery senior BCCI executive tell another senior IPL executive how he shouldconduct himself and this led to the BCCI executive receiving an earful from theIPL executive. There is general discord and breakdown and egos seem to berunning the show with chips on every shoulder that you can see thesedays,” the official said.
“This has resulted in a serious loss of efficacy in theBCCI and this seriously needs to be corrected and it must be carried out inaccordance with the rules governing the running of cricket rather than bygeneral ad-hocism.”
Another official said that this blame-game must stop. As forthe board all players are equal and should be respected along with theirfamilies.
“As far as the BCCI is concerned, every family memberof every player is worthy of respect and all are equal and they all know thatabout us. Stories targeting the families cannot be fair game. Problems arisewhen decisions seem arbitrary, there would be no problem if there was noperception of arbitrary decision making. This has to stop. Rules have to besame for all and there has to be consistency in implementation,” theofficial pointed out.
A board functionary referring to the decision taken by the CoA in handing the responsibility of WAGs travel on the coach and captain, said: “The minutes of the meeting say that cricketing and non-cricketing matters should be kept separate. But from when did someone’s family travelling become a cricketing decision that the captain or coach will decide on that? Will the selection committee also get involved in their selection?” Interestingly, the decision was not an unanimous one, and one member of the three-member CoA had refused to agree but was ruled over as the other two gave the go-ahead. IANS