Does Indian Cricket Really Represent A New Indian Attitude?

I always wanted to avoid the questioning of the famous " New Indian Attitude". Some hard fought and well deserved wins in West Indies, Pakistan, Australia, England and South Africa, along with the historical 20/20 triumph bolstered the feeling of rise of new India, a team which can not only fight on the field but is equally competent in giving back the opposition off the field. The talks of the rise of new India was always a refreshing thought. Unfortunately, the current events on and off the field in Australia and the reaction of so called decision makers of the Indian cricket has left a lot of questions to be answered. A famous Chinese proverb " An army of sheep led by a Lion can easily defeat an army of lions led by a sheep" rightly describes current scenario of Indian cricket. We have lions fighting on the field, but as long as they are controlled by some ignorant and shabby administrators these talks of New Indian Attitude will merely remain talks.

The fact that BCCI is working with a single minded devotion for a cause of filling there coffers is well known. Sadly, none of the newspapers or news channels have really taken up the cause of exposing the functioning of one of the most corrupt and politicised body in the sport. They are busy in reporting such mundane topics as why Kareena left Shahid and going around with Saif. I would best leave that issue for my next post. BCCI's blocking of India Cricket Leauge was not only reminiscent of a child bickering over an extra piece of cake which he doesn't want to share with his friends, according to me it was even against its own constitution. The constitution describes BCCI as a body working solely for the development of cricket in India. Sadly, none of its actions give an hint that BCCI really adheres to its core pledge. It was clearly evident that the only reason they blocked ICL was because they didn't want to share the spoils of sport. If that means robbing the paying public from good cricket and stopping the development of the game then so be it.

The cash rich BCCI apparently commands a lot of clout in the cricket world. However, they have always used that clout for there personal gains. Its been almost 20 hours since the ban on Harbhajan Singh is announced and I havent read even a single statement from BCCI or its "wise" officer bearers. BCCI was lightning fast to react to the issues such as TV rights (BCCI does not want anybody else to earn even a single penny without giving them a share), banning people from writing and tax issues. It once famously claimed that it is a private body and is not answerable to people of India. The most hilarious of all was its support to Cricket Australia on charging news agency for the photos they take and sell to the print media. The news agencies should in turn charge cricket boards for the publicity they generate. After all this is how public pays to watch the game. If cricket board refuses, they should stop printing any of the cricket news.

It is a very sad state that people sitting at the top, right from the chairman, have very little knowledge or interest in cricket. They are here either to fill there bank balances or increase there political clout. BCCI should rightly rename itself to Board of Creation of Controversies in India. Unless these things change, we would best continue to hope for the consistency in sometimes visible "New Attitude" and worst hope that we don't see the demise of this attitude.