BCCI otherwise called Board of Cricketing Controversies in India is in thick of action once again and the critical comments came from the mouth of ex- Team Chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil and that is really worrying. Patil spills the beans saying that Tendulkar got an extended chance of playing for India and he would have been dropped had he not agreed to quit the game at the International level. That was a known factor but it appeared as a bombshell as the Mumbai circle is much skeptical about talking truth and they generally shower praise on cricketers hailing from the city.
In reality Patil called a spade a spade and matter has taken a serious turn. BCCI thought it was unethical to reveal section matters should not be disclosed as the same is of a confidential nature. But the truth will come out one day or the other as the media is there to cover up and do the job of exposing all the time. BCCI is now planning to take action against the outspoken ex-selector. Now the Pandora’s Box is open and BCCI should not just brush aside such charges and take a swift action if a player is not good enough to play for India. After all the controversies, for the first time ever, the BCCI has openly invited people to apply for the selector’s job. Ravi Shastri failed to attend the interview and he had his own resentment on the board. Both Patil and Shastri are in bad books for opening their bad mouth against the Board. The conflict of interest is no way connected to the controversies in the selection committee. Players should perform or perish. Just by scoring some runs when the place is at risk is not cricket. Thus even controversial issues are also coming in open.
Patil’s three year tenure ended when the panel announced the 15 man squad for the ongoing test series against New Zealand. Patil was waiting for an opportunity to open his mind and did it in an appropriate time. Indian cricket faced several tough moments in the last 84 years of International cricket from the days of Lala Amarnath. Even Navjot Singh Sidhu had a dispute with tainted Azharuddin during England series. Thus the Board give scope for the controversies to escalate and that turned into an enormous proportion as revealed by Sandeep Patil.
Nickhil Mani
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
