BCCI - Deal or no deal?
On 16th November 2013, all of us witnessed Sachin Tendulkar in the Indian whites for the very last time. Sachin retired from cricket in great style, leaving us teary-eyed as cricket fans from all over the world watched him conjure his magic with the bat in his hands for the very last time. It was a day filled with tributes and mementos to the great legend with all of us recollecting our memories of the Master Blaster. No one can ever forget the heart touching speech made by Tendulkar, where he thanked all the people who had a role to play in his life, which is a measure to the humility he possesses, and what a really great man he is. It does seem God made him to play cricket, after all.
It is cricket that has made the man who he is and it is cricket that has defined his life. And a look at the scores in his last series doesn’t seem to befit the quality of his game and the records he has amassed in his career. After recording a victory against a sorry West Indian team full of T20 specialists, rather than Test match players, in the first Test by an innings and 51 runs, the second Test was won by India by an even greater margin of an innings and 126 runs.
In all honesty, the matches were grossly one-sided, with India dominating the proceedings all the way, and the West Indian players didn’t come close to matching their Indian counterparts even once. It was sad that Sachin had to go out in a series of such low quality cricket, and it would have been so much better had his last series been against a better side, where he could retire playing at the highest level, against the best bowling attack in the world. And surprisingly, this was possible as India was all set to face South Africa in a 3-match Test series, a 7-match ODI series, as well as 2 T20s, and that too in South Africa, which was scheduled to begin by the end of November.
The BCCI had the South Africa cut short significantly, due to a controversy concerning Haroon Lorgat, who is a former head of Cricket South Africa (CSA) and also a former executive member of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The original tour, which had been announced way back in July 2013, had been cut short to 3 ODIs and 2 Tests, and this came as a huge disappointment as the tour of South Africa was much awaited and would really test the mettle of the Indian players. The rescheduled itinerary of the Tour was announced on September 2 and on September 4, just two days later, it was announced that the West Indies will tour India to play 2 Tests and 3 ODIs. It was no surprise as on October 10, Sachin Tendulkar announced his retirement as the West Indies series would allow him to retire in front of his home crowd, and along with that it would enable him to retire having played exactly 200 Test games for India.
I cannot help but think that the South Africa tour was reduced by the BCCI, so as to accommodate the West Indies series, so that Sachin could retire in India, instead of having him retire in the African nation. So let us assume that this is true, and there is plenty of evidence to think that this actually happened. Here’s why. First and foremost, the BCCI is the richest cricket board in the world by a huge margin with assets 470% more than the board in second place, i.e. Cricket Australia. Its net worth in the beginning of 2013 was USD 294 million, which is 400% more than the next board.