Posts Tagged ‘Feroze Shah Kotla’

Gulu’s Googlies: BCCI – The Board of Control ?

By Gulu Ezekiel

Gulu's Googlies

The BCCI is staffed and stuffed with politicians and business tycoons who know the price of everything but the value of nothing. How else can you explain away the fiascos and bungling that has for decades bedeviled the world’s richest cricket association?

It is the tyranny of numbers—in this case, India’s massive population and those of NRIs and PIOs around the world—more than anything that has propelled the BCCI to where it stands today, a sporting body that appears to have too much money for its own good and no idea of how to spend it wisely or well. These numbers ensure that whenever the national team travels outside of Asia, there will be a substantial number of Indians fans among the spectators and huge TV viewership too. It is this bottomless fan base that allows the Board to take the fans for granted and for a ride. Whether inside the stadium, where the spectator comforts are next to non-existent to the TV coverage with its constantly obtrusive advertisements, the Indian fan is the most exploited in the world. Security at venues across India is both obnoxious and unprofessional and getting in is only the start of a spectator’s woes. Most stadiums in India are uncovered except for the VIP and press areas. So the average fan is left to bake under the midday sun and freeze when the icy winds hit him. The less said about the food and rest room facilities the better. Suffice to say, the whole sorry scenario is akin to animals herded into a holding pen.

When things go wrong of course, everyone runs for cover and the finger pointing and buck passing reaches abysmal depths. The shocking pitch conditions at the Capital’s Ferozshah Kotla was the perfect storm brewing on the horizon and just waiting to break. While the BCCI flexes its financial muscle power and goes about arm-twisting the rest of the cricket world, it is incapable of providing basic cricketing conditions at two of its prime venues. How the Cricket Association of Bengal has been unable to solve the problem of the lights going out at the Eden Gardens even 18 months after the disaster of last year’s IPL is hard to understand. And it takes a public appeal from captain MS Dhoni for the authorities to understand the crying need for a new bowling coach.

Meanwhile, barely a week after the end of the ODI series against Sri Lanka, the Indian team is now in Bangladesh for a meaningless tri-series also involving the Lankans, followed by two Test matches. The irony is the team itself continues to go from strength to strength. No thanks to our Board bozos though!