BCCI continues to bully Cricket SA

[Ash]

Johannesburg – South Africa look like they will lose out on the chance of hosting Sachin Tendulkar's 200th Test in the summer, while Cricket South Africa could take a further financial hit if India's tour here is shortened.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday outlined plans for a short tour by the West Indies in November, which is likely to comprise two Tests, meaning Tendulkar, who has played 198 Tests, could play the historic match in India, probably in his home town Mumbai.

According to reports in India, a proposal for the tour was sent to the West Indies Cricket Board. Given India's financial muscle, it will be very hard for the WICB to turn down that offer.

Following a meeting of their working committee on Sunday, the BCCI outlined plans for a two-Test series with the West Indies, the Indian side's tour to New Zealand in January-February next year and India's tour to England which is likely to comprise five Tests. Crucially for Cricket SA, there was no word of India's tour here at the end of the year.

In July, Cricket SA had released a schedule comprising three Tests, seven ODIs and two T20 Internationals – with the second Test in Cape Town likely to host Tendulkar's historic achievement.

The BCCI were understood to be very unhappy about that schedule especially the number of ODIs, as well as the nine-day gap between the second and third Tests.

The BCCI's president N Srinivasan on Sunday told an Indian news agency that, the South African tour was "definitely on".

"I have not said that the South Africa series will be scrapped. We have just proposed a West Indies series in November. Neither were there any discussions on the South Africa series nor (did) any member raise questions on the series."

If the West Indies tour to India is approved, and with India's tour to New Zealand likely to start towards the latter stages of January, it leaves a relatively short window in which the South African tour can be played meaning it could be significantly reduced.

The tour was due to start on November 21 with a T20 International at the Wanderers. Cricket SA are almost certain to lose out on a few ODIs, but most significantly, they could also lose out on a Test.

The BCCI's moves on one level to have a short tour by the West Indies were being explained away by the fact that they haven't had an incoming tour all year, but the spectre of that organisation's apparent unhappiness with CSA because of their appointment of Haroon Lorgat as CEO still appears to rankle.

The BCCI had raised concerns with CSA president Chris Nenzani when they met with him and other CSA Board officials in February this year.

The BCCI are understood to still be upset with Lorgat and the stance he took with regard to governance, the implementation of DRS and the switching of a venue at the 2011 World Cup. Lorgat has continuously expressed his desire to sit at a table and meet with officials who may be angry with him.

"I don't want to be out of favour with someone who was a friend of mine. I want to understand what the issue is. I will do my very best to gather and understand what it is and to apologise if I have to. I did what I thought was best for the game of cricket. If I offended someone in that process they and I have to understand that," Lorgat said when he was appointed.

By late on Sunday CSA had yet to hear officially from the BCCI about any concerns they had over India's tour schedule

BCCI continues to bully Cricket SA - Proteas Cricket | IOL.co.za

 

[Free Karma]

I dont understand why the BCCI hates Haroon Lorgat so much, perhaps he was irritating them when he was the chairman of the ICC, so much that they never want to see him.

 

[Ash]

Can anyone shed any light on why the BCCI does not like Lorgat? From what I understand when Lorgat was part of the ICC, he tried to curb the power of the BCCI and also , I think to a much lesser extent, he was a consultant to Pakistan cricket. This is creating a lot of bad blood in South Africa and people are threatening to boycot the SA/ India games. Its on all the radio and TV news channels how CSA is being bulliedby the BCCI.

 

[Tolaha]

People boycotting the matches in SA wouldn't make the BCCI any weaker, it wouldn't affect it at all. It would make CSA weaker though.

There probably has been a lot of acrimony that developed when Lorgat was the head of the ICC. Wolfe report, moving of a world cup match from Kolkotta are a few known incidences. Then there are rumours of him having tried to curb BCCI's power, though I'm not sure how he could have achieved that with most of Cricket's revenue coming through BCCI. Maybe he was closer to the anti-Srinivasan camp (Lalit Modi?) in the BCCI.

One should check the comments on cricinfo, where Pakistanis and South Africans are claiming that limiting India-SA test series to just 2 matches is 'death of cricket'! Maybe with the time saved, they could extend the 2 match test series that Pakistan and SA are playing currently!

 

[Tolaha]

"Why is India doing this?" | Cricket Articles, Analysis & Opinions | Wisden India

Few things are more galling than being tarred and feathered with the same brush that has been applied to a bully, a buffoon or a racist, but it happens all the time. It only takes one bad apple to spoil a barrel, after all.

Argentinian footballers were all labelled 'cheats' after Maradona's 'Hand of God' goal in 1986. All South African cricketers are 'chokers'. All professional cyclists are dopers"¦

And now, those involved with Indian cricket are selfish, money-obsessed bullies without a care for anything or anybody outside the confines of theirs and their own.

It's not true, of course, none of it. Well, apart from the South African cricketers and professional cyclists, that is.

But ask most South African cricket supporters right now what they think of Indian cricket, and the answer would be full of caustic vitriol and, sadly, extend far beyond cricket. Suddenly everything is: "Why is India doing this? What's wrong with the Indians?" The BCCI have thrown what they may have thought was a stink bomb into the room and run for cover. It stinks, but the long-term damage will extend much further than they obviously cared to contemplate.

The problem with the BCCI seems to be that they don't care if nobody has a clue what their 'argument' is, or even their point of view. There are rumours and some innuendo, but as far as South African supporters are concerned, they are pure evil. A friend of mine who knows little about cricket gave my contact details to the single mother of a 10-year-old boy. She was sobbing with fury. She had been promising all year to take her cricket-mad son to his first Test match, at Newlands. Now there isn't one.

The same lady has been selling coffee under the Centenary Stand for almost 20 years. She makes a quarter of her annual income from that one match. Never mind the corporates and big businesses with hundreds of thousands to lose.

Within hours of the confirmation of two Tests and a void in Cape Town, a social media campaign had started, encouraging fans to boycott the tour. It contained a great deal of anti-India sentiment, spilling over.

"It's our marquee game of the year," admitted a dejected Graeme Smith in Dubai on Tuesday. "It's the one game every year that all the guys look forward to, it's the best attended Test match of the year, it's just the centre point of the whole summer. It's extremely disappointing to think it won't be there this year."

BCCI!

 

[Tolaha]

Some of the interesting comments in that Wisden article:

As a consultancy, would IBM appoint the best project manager that the client detests, or a good project manager that the client gets alongwith? CSA, acknowledge thy shortcomings and remove Lorgat for CSA's betterment. Your arrogance was met with arrogance from a mightier organisation. There is a reason James Sutherland continues as CA's president, even though his cricket admin skills are questionable.

Ashamed of BCCI. But we Indians get what we deserve.

It is very sad to see people criticize BCCI for not wanting to play SA. Why are we looking at it from one angle why is nobody asking Why SA wants to play against India?. SA is interested in money that it will get out of these matches. So to put it bluntly they are being greedy. India is not bullying SA, they can keep Lorgat as their boss and not play with India or play with India and yield to their demands. SA has full power and option to say NO to this curtailed tour.
My boss pays me money but i work what he tells me to and how he tells me to. I have the option of leaving him and he has the option to fire me, I have no problems with this and SA should have neither.

The ICC and the other international boards cannot change the BCCI.
Its time for players like Tendulkar, Kumble, Dravid and even Dhoni to truly give back to the game that has given them their great riches, and take on the BCCI (and their pathetic paid puppets Gavaskar & Shastri) and implore them to put the game first. Explain that the game is even bigger than the BCCI's TV Rights deal. That means when India tours SA, they must play 3 Tests.
That means the BCCI must adhere to a FTP program that includes all 10 Tier 1 nations.
That means you don't blackmail Sri Lanka, NZ and Zimbabwe into changing their votes for ICC Cricket Committee.
That means you don't threaten to pull out of a tour just because one of your badly behaved players was found guilty of an offence you don't like.
That means you don't put pressure on one of you players (Tendulkar) to lie and change their story for a second hearing to get the outcome you want.
That means you don't control the commentary on India games to an extent where you issue rules about what cannot be mentioned.
And it means about 15 other things as well where the BCCI have acted atrociously in the past 10 years.

lol, comments like this makes me think BCCI is doing right whatever it is doing to stand up in this bad world. "That means you don't put pressure on one of you players (Tendulkar) to lie and change their story for a second hearing to get the outcome you want." - I guess this comes from Ponting's statement that Tendulkar change his statement to save his mate. Remarkable, people like you forget how the Australian team cheat ed to try to win. The statement comes from a person who claimed to take a dropped catch, a person who refuses to walk away even if he is out - would I trust a person like that? Apparently Ponting is the one who will modify the truth to suit him. It was after monkeygate scandal that BCCI rose to power, and before that Australia and England used to act atrociously against all the other team.

I don't get all this whining. Looking at the past few years, It is obvious India has played a LOT more in SA, than SA in India. And then Haroon Lorgat comes along and schedules a 3 Test, 7 ODI, 2 T20 series without confirming with India? Greedy much you think? 2 Tests and 3ODIs is more balanced, and this was what was the typical India-SA series. Look at the past 2-3 series, they always had 2 Tests. Why so much noise now?

BCCI and India were not really a loved bunch lately. Making friends through Sports!

 

[Tolaha]

The solution should be simple. CSA should as the SA politicians to talk to the Indian politicians who in turn should talk to the BCCI. One way to get settle these petty ego fights. Not that Lorgat (or CSA who selected him) is any good, but we do know that whatever we know of BCCI isn't any good!

 

[Ash]

People boycotting the matches in SA wouldn't make the BCCI any weaker, it wouldn't affect it at all. It would make CSA weaker though.

I don't think the intention of the boycott would be to weaken the BCCI, rather it is to show the displeasure of the fans over the way this issue was handled. The most effective way to show your displeasure is to withhold your money. However in this case, granted, most of the money comes from tv rights.