4 great things done by BCCI that have helped Indian cricket

One has to accept that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is sometimes an easy target for cricket enthusiasts and well-wishers. Agree, the internal politics and corrupt practices time and again feed their burning fire against the richest cricket body in the world. And, their strong rejection of Decision Review System (DRS) is a favourite gateway to question the board in every passing series. Still, the board has always put cricket above all if not the nation (as they refused to send a team for the Asian Games for the second time).

#1 Better infrastructure

Before 2000, there were no real facilities available for cricketers to train themselves in various aspects of the game and to do their rehabilitation process post injuries/surgeries under expert guidance. Then rose the National Cricket Academy at Bangalore, courtesy of the late Raj Singh Dungarpur, who was a long serving cricket administrator. The facility offers training centers for both international and domestic players apart from identifying aspiring and capable young talent who dream of representing their nation someday.

It, time and again, conducts selection trials and maintains a knowledgeable set of trainers to take care of the proceedings throughout the year, season after season. The BCCI also plans to expand the center to something on the lines of the state-of-the-art high performance centres available in Australia and England in the near future. And there are the stadiums and state academies. Being the vast cricketing nation, the board has done a commendable job to rise a huge number of world class international stadiums.

In the last 10 years, 8 new stadiums have attained international status. The venues at Ranchi (JSCA International Stadium Complex), Uppal (Hyderabad – Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium), Vidarbha (Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium), Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium), Khanderi (Rajkot – Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium), Pune (Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium/Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium), Indore (Holkar Cricket Stadium), Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium (Visakhapatnam) have entered the long standing list of international stadiums in the country.

Also by awarding matches to small towns and new venues, the BCCI has made sure that cricket reaches a vast population of audience. Considering the fact the a lot of India’s current generation of players have come from less populated towns, this is expected to give more talented and street smart international talents for India.

Add to it, they frequently relay the piches to improve the standards. It was previously said that the outfields were laid out in such a way that it encourages the fielders to dive on the safe lush green surfaces.

And then there was the MRF pace academy that constantly looks after bowlers. Yes, it was there since 1987 under the legendary Dennis Lillee and was not run by the board but MRF. When the Australian decided to hang up his boots, Glenn McGrath was invited to take over which he agreed gracefully. The board has recently signed a MoU (September, 2014) with the pace foundation. By the same, the BCCI will now send it’s international as well as upcoming bowlers under two different categories (elite and probables) to train under the great Australian. McGrath will feed them with inputs on various issues related to bowling which will undoubtedly benefit Team India like never before.

#2 Reduced chuking

All being said and done on the sudden awakening of the ICC in the last few months to curb this menace of chucking in international cricket, not one Indian has been reported so far, but a part-timer in Suryakumar Yadav. Hold it there. It is not because of internal politics of the ‘big three’ to weaken their opponents ahead of the World Cup 2015 by calling their best bowlers for suspect actions.

For those who are not aware, there is an active three member committee comprising of S Venkataraghavan (a member of the famous Indian spin quartet of the 1970s), Javagal Srinath (former Indian pacer turned match referee) and former umpire AV Jayaprakash. Due credit should be given to them for effectively bringing down the number of suspect bowlers to 35 in the last season from 135 in 2009.

While the ICC took a backseat and let the ones with questionable actions play in front of packed stadiums and television audiences, the Indian board was encouraging the umpires, even at the Under-16 level, to note down every occurance of a bowler’s action being suspect and report it to the committee. The reason for not calling them in the match was the concern that it might have a psychological effect on the player.

The committee would then inform the respective team and state association on the same only if the action was deemed illegal after analysing the data and footage. Once a player was called suspect, it was learnt that teams generally don’t include that player in the side until being cleared.

Without any specialized equipments and technology as in the ICC recognised testing centers in Cardiff, Brisbane and recently Chennai, the committee still was effectively able to catch chuckers, made them realize their flaws in rehabilitation by their watchful eyes and with the help of video footage.

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#3 Player salaries and revenue distribution

Even national discards like the Pathan brothers and upcoming sensations like Sanju Samson, Manan Vohra are taking home more than some top foreign players earn through their central contract, courtesy, the Indian Premier League.

True, there are corrupt practises and betting scandals still doing the rounds. Yet, the one and a half month long tournament fulfills a player’s needs in the best possible way. And there was the well sketched out three grade contract policy. All these make sure that the cricketers get guaranteed, deserving pay rolls every season based on their performances.

Also, there is a revenue sharing system in place that distributes BCCI’s profit to its member boards. Add to it, the state boards are allowed to keep the revenue generated from ticket sales and in-stadia advertising, enabling them sustain on their own. Hence, they get to have a lot of money which can be invested for the betterment of the game at the grassroots level.

More and more parents are now encouraging their wards to take up cricket as a profession with all the money, fame and glamour associated with it. While it can be argued that it might lead to an unhealthy trend, for any sport to succeed money is a prime motivator and the BCCI knows it well.

Since 2010-11, the players in Grade A of BCCI’s central contract are earning 1 crore per annum. 50 lakhs and 25 lakhs are being awarded to players in Grade B and C. The salary cap has increased by almost 100% since the first time the grade system was introduced in 2004. 50, 35 and 20 lakhs were the first contract payment handed out to 17 players for 2004-05 season. Now the number of players has increased too based on their performances in domestic matches: 2013-14 list had 25 players benefitting from the central contract.

Even the fringe players are now starting to enter the list just like Mohit Sharma and Jaidev Unadkat did in 2013-14. Mohit had just 2 ODIs to his name when contracts were announced while Unadkat had a lonely Test debut and 5 ODI caps to show for.

This is what the former BCCI president and the current ICC chairman N.Srinivasan had to say when asked about the imbalance in salary between IPL and longer formats in 2012: “Twenty-six per cent of BCCI's income is given to the players, 13% to international players, ten and a half to domestic. So today a Ranji Trophy player who would once be getting Rs 1000 ($18), is getting Rs 40,000 a day ($737), so cricket can be a profession.

“On the whole, a domestic player playing Ranji could earn about Rs 7-10 lakh a year ($13000-18,400), which is a good income. And as far as an international cricketer is concerned, he is earning money, as he gets his share of 13%, which is substantial.”

#4 Player friendly approach and helping former cricketers

The board has always taken the necessary measures to help the team to be in a better frame of mind ahead of any important tour and fixture. To be exact, each and every one of them is taken care in an appreciable manner and the board makes sure that ‘all is well’ in the camp.

Rightly so, the BCCI always backs its players in difficult times. Standing behind Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja when they were charged with disciplinary measures in Australia (2007/08) and England (2014) is a proof to what extent the board will go for them. Yes, there were some reports revealing that the board asked MS Dhoni not to pursue the case at one point, still the issue was carefully handled.

Incidentally, no strong words were spoken against the skipper even when he claimed Duncan Fletcher as the boss after Ravi Shastri’s appointment as team director apart from calling that as his personal opinion.

Even if there was some player conflicts in the side, they have never allowed the issue to come out in public, helping the persons involved and the rest of the members to concentrate on the game. Handling the problems between Virender Sehwag – MS Dhoni when the later introduced rotation policy for senior players in LOIs is one thing to look into. And considering the player-board and player-coach stand-offs are a regular occurrence among all international sides (West Indies) and how much it has damaged the team environment (England), India have always maintained its decorum with their coaches (sans Sourav Ganguly-Greg Chappell).

You will never see a player strike from Indians citing any kind of unsolvable issue. Another thing is India have a strong set of back room staff including video experts who provide all kind of inputs to the players and help them come out of their troubles.

Virat Kohli’s problems outside the off-stump should have been the topic of discussion during the entire England tour. And when the batsman came back into his own during the recently concluded West Indies series, a few would have realised the importance of the performance analysts. Those persons would have made him realise why he is failing every time and helped the batsman identify his flaws.

The initiative to felicitate former cricketers with cash rewards during the IPL season is another thing to be noticed. The board extends help in all possible ways to them these days.

The cricketers who retired after the 2003-04 season and who had played more than 100 Test matches received Rs.1.5 crore while those who played between 75 and 99 Tests got Rs.1 crore each during IPL 2012. Those who represented India between 50 and 74 Tests got Rs.75 lakh; Rs.60 lakh for the ones who played between 25 and 49 Tests; Rs.50 lakh for those who turned out between 10 and 24 Tests.

The ones who played between one and nine Tests and those who played their last international match before 1970 got Rs.35 lakh each. Rs.30 lakh each was awarded to players who turned out in 100 and more first-class matches while those who played between 75 and 99 first-class matches received Rs.25 lakh each. Three ODI matches amount to one Test for the above mentioned benefits.

There is also a pension scheme in place since 2007 for former Test cricketers and umpires that enables them to receive Rs.5000 per month. It is said that there is a scheme even for those who represented their state for a specific number of matches in Ranji Trophy, but no conclusive evidence was found.