Playing for Club is playing for Country

At some point someone will realize that the same limited set of overworked players aren't going to be able to sustain our World Champion status in One Day Internationals, entertain us at IPL games and sustain our number one ranking in Tests.

We need a larger pool of players and we need players to specialize...not just as bowlers, batsmen and wicket keepers but specialize in formats too.

The alternative adopted by administrators the world over, which is largely push the players to make an illusionary club v country choice; is short sighted, self serving, mean, wicked and ultimately harmful to the game. Many talk about "a window"... but that too is a band-aid fix. India has a built-in IPL window and yet the next few weeks promises to unfold like a soap-opera starting with the Gautam Gambhir situation.

Players, including Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, probably have no leverage with either their IPL franchises or the BCCI about not playing the IPL. I doubt that any of these players would have been able to skip the IPL to rest for the tour of the West Indies. Just too many incoming dollars depend on certain players playing IPL games and franchise owners and the BCCI have a lot to lose if the fans stop coming to the games.

This makes the club v country argument an illusion to avoid the real issues, especially  for Indian cricketers. Indian players are playing the IPL for the BCCI and thus by extension for the country.

 The way things have been unfolding ahead of the tour of West Indies is nothing short of a tragedy. A tour to the West Indies was, not so long ago, a main event. Worthy enough to command a delayed broadcast of a running commentary on the radio. Today India can’t find a man fit enough to lead because many have been exhausted performing circus acts for receiving large sums of money from bollywood actors and actresses.

There is real risk that the IPL will negatively impact India’s chances in the West Indies

Sometimes the value of something can best be assessed based on what one is willing to give up acquiring it. The BCCI has to decide how valuable the IPL is by figuring out how much it is willing to lose. And sometimes the choice is not in your hands. You are rudely shown the value of something you possess through an inventory of things you have lost in the process.

I hope what India loses because of its short sighted obsession with the IPL is substantial enough that it forces permanent changes. Fortunately we have a lot to lose this year. How about a Test Series in West Indies as starters and dropping to the middle of the pile in Test rankings by the end of the Australian tour.

I think these losses are strategically important for Indian cricket.