NEW DELHI: The mid-way pull back of Indian paceman Irfan Pathan from South African cricket tour is increasingly seen as a tough and controversial approach of Indian Cricket Board’s new regime.
The message is loud and clear that there is no place for under-performers.
Considering Indian cricket history, players have never been recalled from a tour for reasons other than injury or indiscipline.
“Pathan should take heart. He is still very young. It happens all the time. It happened to Steve Harmison during Pakistan series. But then he proved himself in county cricket,” captain Rahul Dravid said.
But the regime seems to thrive on controversy. For example dropping of Sourav Ganguly, which some say was overdue, others say was cricket politics.
Whatever the reason was, newly chastened Ganguly seems to be in much better form in South Africa - his innings often only saving grace in India’s repeated batting fiascos. “I will try and do well in whatever opportunities I get,” he said.
No such comebacks for Jagmohan Dalmiya who has been expelled on charges of embezzling funds during the 1996 World Cup.
In a decision which many found controversial, the man Time magazine once called the most powerful man in cricket is not just out of BCCI but out of every other cricket post he held.
“I have heard that umpire and bowler were the same man. This was matter where spirit of game was violated. Pawar, it was not cricket. It was an unfair trial. I was denied justice,” Dalmiya, a former BCCI president, said.
The instances like these, the decisions by the new BCCI regime, seem arbitrary rather than consistent.
In a time when cricket has become politicised more than ever what some see as getting tough others will see as settling scores.
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