Perhaps the Zee Television tussle with BCCI did not raise enough furore for the latter to be considered an instrumentality of the State, but the recent tour of Australia by the Indian cricket team, I believe is reason sufficient enough to nationalize BCCI.
The present controversy in Australia as regards the level of fair-play being tendered to the Indian players on and off the field and giving them all reasons not to concentrate on their cricket is reason sufficient enough to hurt the self-respect of every Indian who takes pride in his country and follows cricket. But then the way BCCI has handled it, first suspending the tour and then calling on a decision allowing the tour to progress clearly shows how far financial interests dictate its decisions rather than national pride of the country of more than one billion. Had it been a nationally handled affair, I am of no doubt that the Indian team would have already landed back in India, cutting short of the Australians sledging attempt against them, for which I really admire to have perfected the art which they are rightly deserving, capable and worthy holders, as far as cricketing ties are concerned and no test playing nations can vouchsafe against the fact.
Day in and out we have articles and posts from all corners of India and at all random forums as possible, telling how far they have been hurt and taken aback by the way things are happening and the way the are being handled but then the Chief Executive (another Australian) lands a dictate that its not a win for India but of cricket that Harbhajan has been allowed to play pending the decision of his appeal. Forget the appeal I say, what happens to the lost test match. Is there any decision of replay? Why did the test match where Pakistan walked out of against England awarded to England at the decision of Hair (another Australian) and even when later Hair was found to be wrong, no attempt made to either consider the test canceled or look for a replay later on? Well, is it cricketing spirit we are talking of (which they say proudly is a Gentleman's game) or just in direct terms of the race of the players involved. Why does an Australian get away with calling a South African player a terrorist and he is not a racist and whereas if you fight back against the racist abuses coming to you, you are violating the spirit of the game?
Why does it start from one way and always end that way itself, why not equality. When every nationalist's pride is hurt and BCCI calls to suspend the tour because of reasons of their self-respect, why does another Australian have to say that BCCI is showing its financial might? Why does Ponting has to be jumping around Harbhajan when he gets out cheaply to him and instead Harbhajan scores more runs than him? I think the answer is obvious. They simply cant win the game fair and even. They tasted the Indian might on the last tour itself. But when it came to win, they adopted these unfair (in fact the usual) tactics of hitting all the ungentlemanly pitches.
But in the end, if we allow the tour to go, its like telling the world that we can take action but we don't because we play by the rules even when the other team hasn't even heard what rules mean. This is a serious lapse and blunder we will commit. Enough is enough. The matter is highly a matter of national pride and unless it is dealt by a national agency, I simply will lose faith in the integrity with which the team would play.The matters at this such a high international standing, and that too in a game which even the Supreme Court acknowledges is public interest in India, that its high time that BCCI is nationalized and tough decisions taken rather than matter looked only from a financial perspective. I hope the ears at the top are listening and take a time off to analyze the situation.
The present controversy in Australia as regards the level of fair-play being tendered to the Indian players on and off the field and giving them all reasons not to concentrate on their cricket is reason sufficient enough to hurt the self-respect of every Indian who takes pride in his country and follows cricket. But then the way BCCI has handled it, first suspending the tour and then calling on a decision allowing the tour to progress clearly shows how far financial interests dictate its decisions rather than national pride of the country of more than one billion. Had it been a nationally handled affair, I am of no doubt that the Indian team would have already landed back in India, cutting short of the Australians sledging attempt against them, for which I really admire to have perfected the art which they are rightly deserving, capable and worthy holders, as far as cricketing ties are concerned and no test playing nations can vouchsafe against the fact.
Day in and out we have articles and posts from all corners of India and at all random forums as possible, telling how far they have been hurt and taken aback by the way things are happening and the way the are being handled but then the Chief Executive (another Australian) lands a dictate that its not a win for India but of cricket that Harbhajan has been allowed to play pending the decision of his appeal. Forget the appeal I say, what happens to the lost test match. Is there any decision of replay? Why did the test match where Pakistan walked out of against England awarded to England at the decision of Hair (another Australian) and even when later Hair was found to be wrong, no attempt made to either consider the test canceled or look for a replay later on? Well, is it cricketing spirit we are talking of (which they say proudly is a Gentleman's game) or just in direct terms of the race of the players involved. Why does an Australian get away with calling a South African player a terrorist and he is not a racist and whereas if you fight back against the racist abuses coming to you, you are violating the spirit of the game?
Why does it start from one way and always end that way itself, why not equality. When every nationalist's pride is hurt and BCCI calls to suspend the tour because of reasons of their self-respect, why does another Australian have to say that BCCI is showing its financial might? Why does Ponting has to be jumping around Harbhajan when he gets out cheaply to him and instead Harbhajan scores more runs than him? I think the answer is obvious. They simply cant win the game fair and even. They tasted the Indian might on the last tour itself. But when it came to win, they adopted these unfair (in fact the usual) tactics of hitting all the ungentlemanly pitches.
But in the end, if we allow the tour to go, its like telling the world that we can take action but we don't because we play by the rules even when the other team hasn't even heard what rules mean. This is a serious lapse and blunder we will commit. Enough is enough. The matter is highly a matter of national pride and unless it is dealt by a national agency, I simply will lose faith in the integrity with which the team would play.The matters at this such a high international standing, and that too in a game which even the Supreme Court acknowledges is public interest in India, that its high time that BCCI is nationalized and tough decisions taken rather than matter looked only from a financial perspective. I hope the ears at the top are listening and take a time off to analyze the situation.
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