Thursday 28 Mar 2024

Cleaner cricket

| JANUARY 06, 2016, 07:30 PM IST

Lodha committee recommendations will change the game for the betterr
Cricket might be the most popular game in the country but it is alsor the dirtiest. Reports of spot fixing and betting on the inside have rruined the reputation of the 20-20 format and sponsors are pulling out. rThis sordid story is made worse by the people who were at the helm of raffairs. The tenacity with which they held on to their posts, until theyr were kicked out, is an indicator of the money and power wielded by the rtop honchos. Now the game is poised for deep rooted change. r
The 159-page report of Justice R M Lodha is set to turn radministration of the game on its head. The Lodha committee has rsuggested a slew of changes each aimed at benefiting the game and the rfans. The two questions that the judge sought to answer in his report rare, ‘what changes are needed to benefit the game?’ and ‘will those rchanges give the fan what he wants?’ r
The sweeping changes, if and when implemented, will curb the rinfluence of politicians by barring those who are ministers from holdingr a post in the BCCI or state associations. Although this might not weed rout all politicians, the recommendation that an official can hold a postr cumulatively for only nine years, will ensure that politicians and rbusiness interests do not get entrenched in the system. r
Till date the BCCI has flexed muscle to prevent players from formingr a union and speaking with one voice. This is set to change with Justicer Lodha recommending that players be allowed to form an association, a rnorm followed in other cricketing nations but absent here. This move rwill break the stranglehold the BCCI holds over players and give the rlatter a greater say in how the game is administered. It will also give rplayers more room to bargain. The players are the sum and total of the rgame and they deserve to have a louder voice. The inclusion of women in rthe inner circle, essentially a man’s world, might help women’s cricket.r r
The one recommendation which will infuse a dose of transparency and rkeep BCCI officials on their toes is that the apex cricketing body be rbrought under the purview of the Right to Information Act. This will rgive the fans, aficionados and critics a handle to ferret out the truth rand bare what goes on in the shady corridors of the BCCI. However, this rwill require an amendment to the act, which might be challenged unless rthe BCCI agrees, in the interest of the game. r
The present dispensation at the BCCI headed by Shashank Manohar has rshown the willingness to clean up the stables. In contrast to his rpredecessor N Srinivasan, who ruled with an iron fist, Manohar seems rmore interested in the game and less inclined towards creating a fiefdomr of his own. This is a good sign for cricket and the manner in which it ris administered. But the recommendations made by Justice Lodha go beyondr what even Manohar might have imagined. They call for a drastic change. r r
Desperate times call for desperate measures and the recommendations rmade by the Lodha committee are a true indication of what needs to be rdone to clean up the game and rid it of self-seeking politicians and radministrators. If similar changes could be made to other sporting rorganisations, the world of sport would be better off.   
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