BCCI Meeting for Overview of Indian Cricket

The extreme developments of the last couple of days had prompted the Board of Control for Cricket in India to take no chances with the high-powered meetings set to take place in Mumbai on April 6 and 7. While it debates - and hopefully decides - on the various crucial issues it has suddenly been faced with, there will be measures in place to ensure secrecy is maintained.

To that end, the board has decided to keep the media out of the Wankhede Stadium premises, where its offices are situated and where it is scheduled to meet. The board has also asked both Greg Chappell and Sanjay Jagdale, coach and manager for the World Cup, not to send the reports sought from them in any form - fax or email - to board members, but instead to table them directly before Sharad Pawar, the president, at the assigned time.

It has already instructed the players to refrain from making any remarks to the media, especially on the currently sensitive topics doing the rounds in Indian cricket.

Rahul Dravid, who has steered clear of the limelight for the past few days, holidaying in Kerala with his family, will speak to the office-bearers at the meeting but submit no report. The word on Thursday was that Sachin Tendulkar had also been asked to attend the meeting but this could not be confirmed.

The two-day session will be the first time the BCCI would have met to discuss India's early exit from the World Cup and its fallout, including Wednesday's decision by Chappell not to seek an extension of his coaching contract. Rumours of an emergency meeting convened at Pawar's residence on Wednesday evening, soon after the Chappell news broke, proved to be just rumour.

And so, at 10am on Friday, Chappell and Jagdale will hand over their reports to Pawar. Also present will be Niranjan Shah, the secretary, Mohinder Pandove, the joint secretary, N Srinivasan, the treasurer, four vice-presidents, the chairman of selectors and the administrative head. Lalit Modi, who is in London at the moment, is the one vice-president unlikely to attend the meeting.

While Jagdale's report will be restricted to the tournament, Chappell, it is believed, has been asked for a detailed analysis from the time his tenure began, 22 months ago.

In the second half of the day, once they are finished with Chappell and Jagdale, the BCCI will meet with former Indian captains to ascertain their views on the best way forward. The former captains invited are Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Ravi Shastri, Kris Srikkanth, S Venkataraghavan and Chandu Borde. While the board will be discussing the details of the two reports they received with the former captains, it is understood that copies of the report will not be made available to them, once again in the interest of maintaining confidentiality.

The next day, by which time Chappell would probably have left the country for a pre-arranged break in Singapore, the board's working committee will meet. This meeting is expected to last all day, ending with a press conference at 5pm, when the decisions taken at the meeting will be made public.

The BCCI is not under any compulsion to name either a captain or coach at the end of the meetings, but it is widely expected that they will announce their captaincy choice and an interim coach, in the meantime constituting a panel that will look at options for a long-term coach.

 

[rahul_parab2006]

Former captains suggest a cut in endorsements

India's cricketers must cut down on their commercial dealings, the country's former captains have recommended to the Board of Control for Cricket in India while reviewing the team's World Cup debacle and suggesting ways to move forward.

Seven former Indian captains - Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Ravi Shastri, Kris Srikkanth, S Venkataraghavan and Chandu Borde - met the BCCI bigwigs and discussed a variety of issues. It is understood that there was no specific discussion on individual players, the performance of the team in the World Cup or the performance of Greg Chappell as coach. Instead, the captains, who had come to the meeting armed with a number of points, looked forward to what needed to be done to improve the health of Indian cricket in general.

One of the suggestions put forward was related to player endorsements, with the panel suggesting that the players take the board's permission before entering into a contract. They also added that a copy of the contract should be submitted to the BCCI in order to ensure that there is no clause therein related to performance-based incentives. Also, not more than two or three players must endorse a product other than those by BCCI sponsors, they felt.

"This was one of the most constructive meetings I have ever attended with the board," one of the captains told Cricinfo. "We discussed some crucial aspects, one of the key was strengthening junior cricket. I don't want to give too many specific details, but here's one example: Tiger Pataudi spoke of how players learned how to dive and anticipate in fielding when they were 15, and not 25, so more focus needed to be given to the quality of coaching, umpiring and wickets at that level, so that no aaltu-faltu cricketers come through to the highest level."

Here are the salient points discussed

# Strengthening of domestic cricket to ensure the participation of international cricketers. The international calendar can be adjusted by 6-8 weeks to include these cricketers.

# Improving wickets: The BCCI must ensure "sporting and lively wickets" which are prepared under the supervision of the pitches committee.

# Players must take the board's permission before entering into an endorsement contract. A copy of the contract should be submitted to the BCCI in order to ensure that there is no clause therein related to performance-based incentives. Also, not more than two or three players must endorse a product other than those by BCCI sponsors.

# The Ranji Trophy Elite group should be trimmed to 10 teams instead of the current 15 and the matches should be played on a round-robin league basis to improve the quality of domestic cricket

# The selectors should be appointed on a full-time basis and with payment involved.

# Greater care should be taken in the appointment of selectors to the junior selection committee.

# The Indian team must have a pool of 30 cricketers who should be rotated so that no player plays more than 80 days in a year.

 

[rahul_parab2006]

Chappell offered consultant's role at NCA

Greg Chappell's innings as coach has certainly come to an end, amidst some furore in the public eye with certain players expressing their hurt and annoyance at his ways, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India ensured that he did not leave on a bitter note.

On Thursday evening, the night before the review committee meeting, a senior official of the board attempted to persuade Chappell to reconsider his decision not to seek an extension of his contract. While that did not happen, there certainly was a surprise in store the next day.

Chappell's presentation to the president - which was widely expected to be scathing in its attack on the attitude of senior players - did not mention a single name, and instead concentrated on what needs to be done to strengthen and improve Indian cricket.

"The president was not just impressed by Chappell's presentation on the day, but he appreciated him for all the effort he had put in with the team in the last two years," a board source revealed to Cricinfo. "Everyone had assumed that Chappell would blast the players but he gave his analysis of what was wrong and what needed to be done."

The board, which had treated Chappell with utmost courtesy even after he announced that he would not be continuing as India's coach, went one step further, offering him a position at the National Cricket Academy, where he could "put in place the things he had mentioned in his presentation."

In Chappell's presentation, the definite accent was on youth, and the development of players who had the strength, power and fitness to play the game in a manner that would make them competitive at the highest role. It's interesting to note that Chappell enjoyed a good rapport with youngsters in his tenure. Even in private the youngsters have barely had a crib about Chappell's ways, and players like Irfan Pathan and Suresh Raina have said in interviews that they benefitted from Chappell's coaching. Ironically, one of the charges that has been laid against Chappell was that he was too "schoolmasterly", and that might just work in his favour if he chooses to accept a role at the NCA dealing with youngsters.

The offer the Board has made to Chappell - and the details of this have not been discussed and certainly nothing has been agreed on - is as much a rap on the knuckles to certain players as it is a vote of confidence in Chappell.

"Some players just assumed things and gave statements to the media. Now where does that leave them?" the source asked. The BCCI has not taken kindly to what has been perceived as a players' move to "get rid" of the coach. "We always take the suggestions of the senior players when appointing a coach, but they cannot dictate who should come or when they should go."

Chappell, who was scheduled to leave Mumbai for Singapore on Friday, after making his presentation, was forced to postpone his departure, leading to further speculation about what his role may be. But Cricinfo has learned that he only did so because he took ill in the course of the day, feeling breathless, and the hotel doctor had to be summoned to attend to him.

 

[rahul_parab2006]

At the end of a long day of infinite rumour and speculation it has emerged that Rahul Dravid is set to stay on as India captain and Ravi Shastri has been offered the role of coach/cricket manager for next month's tour of Bangladesh, sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed to Cricinfo.

The BCCI's high-level meeting at the Wankhede Stadium to discuss India's performance at the World Cup also saw Greg Chappell being offered the post of consultant at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

In news that has yet to be confirmed it was also learnt that Robin Singh, the former India allrounder, could have a role to play as an assistant or fielding coach. Sources also revealed that while this was the arrangement for the Bangladesh tour, there could be further specific appointments - separate batting, bowling and fielding coaches - with Shastri taking on an overseeing role as cricket manager in the long term.

Shastri has asked the BCCI for a day to clear existing contractual obligations and commitments - he is contracted with ESPN-Star - but did say that it "would be an honour to serve Indian cricket."

All these proposals and/or decisions must be ratified by the working committee, which meets tomorrow, to become effective.

Dravid's decision to accept the captaincy, revealed by sources in the BCCI, sets at rest speculation that he considered giving up the captaincy following India's dismal showing in the World Cup and the subsequent decision of Chappell to not seek an extension of his contract as India coach.

This also puts to rest the strong rumours that the Sachin Tendulkar was likely to make a comeback as captain of the Indian team. Several media outlets have quoted senior players, off the record, as backing Tendulkar to lead the team. There were also suggestions that Tendulkar would meet with Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, to put forth the grievances of the senior players but that did not materialise.

All through a searingly hot day in Mumbai, the names doing the rounds for various posts changed every hour, as the media, camped out in large numbers outside the Cricket Centre of the BCCI office, clung on to every rumour and every bit of information that filtered through.

In addition to suggestions for having a specific structure of specialised coached assisting the team, it is understood that Dravid also stressed on the need to put other support systems in place. Aside from putting forward his suggestions on what personnel would be ideally suited to take the team forward, Dravid suggested a more streamlined selection process, better team management with the appointment of a full-time team manager and a full-time media manager.

The media release issued by the board only said that Dravid "told the committee that his team has left for the World Cup with high hopes but failed to do well. Rahul accepted responsibility on behalf of the team for the poor performance which led to [an] early exit from the World Cup."

The afternoon session saw seven former captains of India meeting board officials where, it is understood, there was no specific discussion on individual players, the performance of the team in the World Cup or the performance of Chappell as coach. Instead, the captains, who had come to the meeting prepared with a series of points, looked forward to what needed to be done to improve the health of Indian cricket in general.

"This was one of the most constructive meetings I have ever attended with the board," one of the captains told Cricinfo. "We discussed some crucial aspects; one of the keys was strengthening junior cricket. I don't want to give too many specific details, but here's one example: Tiger Pataudi spoke of how players learned how to dive and anticipate in fielding when they were 15, and not 25, so more focus needed to be given to the quality of coaching, umpiring and wickets at that level, so that no aaltu-faltu cricketers come through to the highest level."