An open letter to the wise men of Indian cricket

Respected wise men of Indian cricket,

I am a devotee of Indian cricket and your behaviour in the recent past has forced me to write this letter. The Board of Cricket Control for India (BCCI) is the most powerful and also the most dominant cricket board in the world, but the same cannot be said about the Indian cricket team. The main objective of the board is to give whatever it takes and help the Indian cricket team to be the best in the world, but for some reason, our board is more concerned about making the BCCI the most powerful board in the world than making India the best team in the world.

Whether it’s opposing the DRS, scheduling matches in the favour of the Indian team in big tournaments, organizing big parties (IPL & CLT20) or disallowing Getty Images and Action Images from photographing, BCCI makes sure that the power of dominance of “the” most powerful board is felt by one and all. Sir, we take more pride in being called as the best team in the world, than being called as the most powerful board.

My main motive behind writing this letter is to discuss the downfall of the Indian cricket team in the purest and the most respected form of the game – Test cricket. The story of our downfall from No.1 to No.6 has been very disheartening for all the Indian cricket fans. We’ve seen our team surrender against England first, and then Australia. After the 8-0 thrashing we got in England and Australia, we expected our “wise men” to make some strong, bold and positive moves going forward, but just like our team and our captain ‘cool’, our wise men accepted defeat and moved on.

Coach Fletcher, who was assigned specially to take care of the England and Australia tour, didn’t say a word after all the demoralizing defeats and just kept chewing his gum in the dressing room. He might be reserved in character, but he’s a bit too reserved for my liking. No development has been seen under Mr. Fletcher and there’s no one to question him from the big office of our wise men. It’s time to ask Mr. Duncan a few questions and take required actions.

Our captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a great ODI captain, but his performance as a leader and as a batsman has been below average in Test cricket and his ‘cool’ attitude on the field is again a bit too cool for the Test match level. Sir, no matter how big a player is, team’s interest should come before any individual. We cannot ignore the bad performances and inefficient leadership just because we won the ICC World Cup under his captaincy. We should learn the art of managing a team from the Australian Cricket Board – who irrespective of the achievements and stats, kept the team’s interest ahead of any individual.

Biased selections and too much of leniency towards ‘big’ names is hurting Indian cricket badly and it’s your foremost duty to step up and handle this crisis situation before it gets too late. It’s so disheartening to see our commentators fighting the battle of words in the commentary box, while our players, with their shoulders down, are accepting the defeats one by one.

I hope you would understand the emotions, frustration and true love of this Indian cricket fan and will take necessary decisions and actions for the improvement of the Indian cricket.

Your Sincerely,Madhav Sharma(Indian cricket devotee)