Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Storms in Teacups



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A few years ago, we lamented about the loss of characters from cricket when Flintoff was penalized for pedalo-gate. Until recently, I didn't really understand this desire by journalists and "elites" for squeaky clean sportsmen and now ex-cricketer administrators.

When I was a student in a college in India, many times I would be asked as to how I managed good grades "even though" I enjoyed an occasional drink. Well, maybe not occasional....but you get the point. For the life of me, I never understood the connection between good academic performance and alcohol. In many ways, I (along with a few others) were the outliers.

Many of those that posed that question were squeaky clean A-graders and teetotallers. My misfortunate was that this lot was the majority and they probably now constitute the profile of the majority of opinion-makers.

To bring a long introduction to a point....such a lot (people who have never run cricket or played competitively) is now (Sambit Bal included) questioning Anil Kumble's ethics in running a sports firm and being a sports official. Sports is meant for enjoyment. Sportsmen are entertainers. They need money to feed themselves. So Kumble's firm Tenvic manages a few of the players. Sports is not religion and does not need priests to run it.

In this world, many things are inter-connected. It's incredible that we manage to figure out these connections and try to drive Kumble out of office in Karnataka, just because Vinay Kumar was selected to the India team.

Shame on Sambit Bal and his ilk for such idiotic journalism. Even if Kumble were to have influenced team selection, why should we assume that he had anything but the team's welfare at heart? I wish someone like Kumble were around to manage Vinod Kambli and get him a few breaks. I wish someone like Kumble manages Irfan Pathan. And thank you Sambaran Banerjee for having a conflict of interest and recommending Saurav Ganguly.

In the end, all players are picked based on numbers, recommendation, gut-feel and several other factors. If numbers were the only parameter, then Vikram Rathore would have eclipsed Tendulkar's records by now. Selectors themselves are taking a leap of faith even when they pick proven performers because past performance is no guarantee of future success. Vinay Kumar has done most of the stuff required to merit selection.

We are now hell bent on driving characters like Flintoff, Symonds and Gayle out of cricket and soon we'll drive out administrators with characters like Kumble. Soon Sambit Bal and his ilk will want cricket to be run by tetotaller IIT PhDs only and want cricketers to play slowly so that no one gets hurt.

8 comments:

Jigar Mehta (jigsactin) said...

The next thing to happen would be Sambit Bal's resignation from cricinfo!

straight point said...

but at the same time you cant rule out situations where CoI will be inevitable however well kumble manages to recluse himself from different hats he posses...

i agree with harsha, and its a very important point, that he is paving way a precedence that can be used in future as an excuse by the guy who might not have kumblesque integrity...

Anonymous said...

SP -

In Harsha's example, we need to deal with issues of integrity and not issues of COI. Issues of integrity cannot be pushed under the carpet by referring to precedence of COI. This is a witch-hunt which even Gandhi and Jesus would have a hard time surviving.

Vidooshak

Vidooshak

Sashank said...

I think most Indians are either ignorant regarding the implications of 'conflict of interest' or just prefer to ignore the whole concept as they'd be found guilty of it at some point or another. It's not the integrity of Kumble that is questioned by his current offices. He's doing a disservice to the KSCA, his company and team RCB by taking on these multiple roles. This can be seen by how Vinay Kumar's capabilities were questioned first and then maybe his record is looked into.

The character of an individual stands out when he is willing to forego something in pursuit of a higher calling. As a player Kumble was regarded in the highest respect. But he is tarnishing that now by trying to have the cake and eat it too.

Golandaaz said...

Hello Shashak, very well put :-)

Vidooshak said...

Sashank -

You make a good point. What I'm trying to say is that this is a game at the end of the day. People are trying to make a living and get rich by playing, etc. So what if there's a conflict of interest? I don't see how the game is hurt. Isn't this a little like the Dhobi doubting Sri Rama. In order to mollify the erroneous perception, God inflicted pain and suffering on himself and his wife. You are asking Kumble to forego something because of exactly this kind of stuff. Not fair and should not happen in these days and times. And no I'm not saying Kumble is the equivalent of Ram or anything. My point is that those stories exist to teach us to be reasonable. And I think Sambit, Bhogle and dare-I-say you are not being reasonable. If anything we should defend Kumble and push back hard against those that doubt his sincerity and integrity without a shred of evidence merely due to the appearance of a potential CoI.

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