In one stroke of the gavel, they were banished to the wilderness, paying the price for their supreme arrogance and excessive self-belief in them being the only ones who could ‘control’ cricket. The second day of the New Year was a red letter day in the history of Indian cricket as the top court sent the whole caboodle packing with one lift of the judicial umpire’s index finger. And then there were very few ‘honorary’ cricket officials left standing.
It is a shame that they were all so thick-skinned as to be asked to leave the arena, dismissed by the magisterial authority of the law, which they believed did not apply to them at all. Why? Because the game of cricket, ever so popular in the country, has a few bucks in its bank account and they have access to it to bestow favours on fellow men. The men who used the same money to perpetuate themselves in the world of cricket admin were clearly worthy of the punishment meted out to them.
A small time politician who sprang quickly up the BCCI ladder became so obnoxious in such quick time that he spewed sarcasm on the top court’s directives to clean up the scandal-ridden game and give it a fresh injection of transparency and accountability. It may not have occurred to a politico that anyone could do a better job of administering the game than the high and mighty who used cricket to play God so they could enjoy the demigods of the game genuflecting before them.
The very fact that three of the last four presidents had ignominious exits from the BCCI exposed how highhanded they had all become in their game of control. One of them was so defiant of the Supreme Court that he had to be told he was not eligible anymore to contest for the post of BCCI president. He had abused the spirit of the game in buying an IPL cricket team while defying all principles of conflict of interest and consequently raining upon the cash rich league the ire of the top court. He then manipulated events to bequeath his old friends in a political family an IPL team at an economical price after having taken it away from sporting owners.
The most significant lesson to be drawn from the whole legal exercise, which virtually ran for eight years after the original suit on conflict of interest was given a convenient split verdict, is that no one is greater than the game of cricket. Not even those who were generous enough with the game’s money to hand out some financial comfort to retired players. The point is that all largesse pivoted around BCCI’s copious funds and individuals cleverly projected themselves as benefactors even if they so much as gave money to affiliated associations for the development of the game. This kind of egotistical padding led to the building of personality cults, which in India are invariably supported by sycophants who know they stand to benefit.
The hunt must begin for admin men who understand the culture of cricket. At the same time, they must be rendered incapable of the kind of manoeuvring that most top BCCI officials did. If the files on the grant of contracts and the process of vetting the TV royalty deals were ever to be released publicly, too many officials would stand exposed. This is where the new regime will profit most as all the revenue would flow into the game rather than see some percentage being routed through murky channels as it proved in the case of one leading administrator who upped and left the country, preferring to be a fugitive from the law rather than face the music over some Rs 400 crore of rerouted cricket money.
Financial shenanigans were aplenty as sports admin men always believed that certain leeway would be allowed in the name of everything being covered by the spirit of sport. Doling out BCCI money to fight cases endlessly in courts was a deliberate strategy and it did not take much intelligence to discern that around Rs 300 crore could be used for such battles which didn’t have to come out of the pockets of individuals. The thing to be avoided like a plague in the future is such litigation. The BCCI can also look at the various injustices done to IPL teams that were removed from the league for flimsy reasons and for which arbitration has been suggesting solutions. Expensive lawyers are not necessarily cricket’s best friends.
A brighter future beckons in terms of financial regularity. Team India has been doing well enough on its own despite the admin men inviting a bad name upon cricket by continuously defying the top court. The team needs no help from the administration except to look after the basic requirements of the game and its players. Professionals are capable of providing this even if they do not bring the passion of the old timers who were the genuine amateur administrators of cricket before the game got rich and those tending to it lost their way amid all the money. They became like King Midas whose lot was not a happy one despite all the riches at his feet.
