Cricket: Whose game is it anyway?

Are players taken into consideration when deciding series? (Getty Images)

The announcement of West Indies’ arrival in India to play two Tests and three ODIs has been received with joy and celebration. With the imminent retirement of one Sachin Tendulkar looming large over our shoulders, this could give us an opportunity to witness his swansong on home turf.

However, very roughly sketched into my schedule (as well as the ICC’s, coincidentally) is a Test match against South Africa which would demarcate the great man’s 200th Test and possible departure. With the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) placing its weight wherever it wishes to, the much anticipated tour to South Africa will almost certainly be further truncated to give team India a little breathing space before heading to New Zealand.

The BCCI’s ire towards Haroon Lorgat is no secret, but in this case the board seems hell-bent on providing him with as much pain and suffering as possible. The biggest fear that the BCCI brings with all these ‘squabbles’ of theirs is the threat of bringing in blatant politics into the game. The moment Lorgat passive-aggressively tries to create any further tension between the two, we’re pretty much treading on political ground. Blows will be traded, remarks will be passed, and players will be standing on fields being puppeteered by big men in suits and ties.

The BCCI threatened to pull out of the tour to South Africa when Lorgat was front-runner to becoming Cricket South Africa’s chairman. The fact that the schedules of eleven men, who play cricket for their country for pride, for the love of the game, are subject to their boards whims and fancies is worrying. Thankfully, good sense prevailed in its battle with ego, and the BCCI did not pull out after Lorgat’s appointment. But it is indeed trying its level best to cause any hindrance to the running of the tour, and the surprise series against West Indies could be such a ploy.

And it’s an excellent ploy at that with a multiple-fold advantage for the board. Not only will it give Lorgat sleepless nights, but the retirement of possibly the greatest cricketer of all time is in their control now, and it gives a good financial boost to the board as well.

But that is, if it really is a ‘ploy’.