Or, business as usual with the BCCI.
The World Cup begins on March 13, 2007 and comes to an end on the April 28, 2007
India is committed to play 2 Tests and 3 ODIs versus Bangladesh in May 2007.
India is to play domestic Twenty 20 for the first time towards the end of March, beginning of April 2007.
June 2007 sees India playing the Afro Asia Cup followed by a 3 Test 7 ODI trip to England.
This is to be followed up by the Twenty20 World Cup, a 7 ODI set versus Australia, an away series to Pakistan and then a 4 Test series versus Australia in Australia.
The Indian domestic season begins in the October-November time frame with the Challengers followed by the Irani,Duleep and Ranji Trophies.
In the middle of all this, comes this news story.
The Indian and Australian boards are planning a one-day series to be played in North America. New York or Toronto are the likely venues.
Two possible stumbling blocks in the negotiations could be Australia's tour programme and wrangling over the percentage of revenues to be shared between the rival boards, with Australia reportedly demanding an equal share and the Indians demurring.
Where scheduling is concerned, between the World Cup in the Caribbean and the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa late in the year, Australia plan to visit Zimbabwe. "And there is also the issue of player leave," Brown said. "So there are a few things to consider. India wanted to hold a tournament similar to the one we had in Kuala Lumpur."
A few points here- If Australia's scheduling is a concern, how about India's?
- How exactly are the BCCI going to get the players and the time to fit in this set of 7 absolutely meaningless ODIs in the midst of a hectic year?
- The World Cup in itself is tediously long. Wont the Indian audiences be overdosing on the hit and giggle version of the game?
- Playing the same team 15 times in an year, doesnht that reek of overkill?
- Where exactly are the BCCI priorities- towards Indian cricket or towards themselves?
- Will the Board stop at nothing to make that extra buck?
2 comments:
very thought-inspiring post, homer. I was thinking - what and more importantly why would Sharad Pawar and the other 'casino-eyed' politicians know or even want to know anything about issues such as player burn out , the importance of timely rest and regular training camps etc?
Hell, I am not even sure if he has an elementary knowledge about the ways of the game!
Very, very obviously Sharad Pawar cares almost as much about Indian cricket as his wife would about Colgate's market shares.
He is in there for the money and money alone.
Time to reshape the whole BCCI election process, perhaps.
Before Sharad Pawar, it was Jagmohan Dalmiya. After Sharad Pawar, there will be some other yobo.
Every time an election takes place, there is talk of a "professional" set up with a CEO and the works.. And then nothing happens.
The fun will begin when this over kill will begin to bite.
When the team will no longer perform, when the middle order retires and there is no one who can seamlessly step in their shoes.
Thats when the board will start feeling the pinch coz its bottom line will be affected.
It took the match fixing scandal to bring about some reform in the Indian cricketing setup. Something equally seismic is required to get the Board out of its current Mammon induced slumber.
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