Sanjay Jagdale - The true gentleman of cricket

Sanjay Jagdale (centre)

Barring a few cricket enthusiasts, not many must have heard of the name Sanjay Jagdale until yesterday when, in a move which only highlights his unselfish interests in the game of cricket, he resigned from the post of honorary secretary of the BCCI. He has never hogged the limelight nor does he seek fame. Incidentally, in 2012, when the board was being formed, he was selected as the secretary unanimously by the members of the board. He was the only member whose selection was non-controversial, and whose honesty and integrity could not be questioned.

Sanjay Jagdale’s name commands immense respect from everyone who knows him. The son of the late Major Jagdale, he followed his father’s footsteps in playing domestic cricket before becoming a national selector. He has always been an honest, disciplined, hard-working man whose cricket knowledge and level of commitment were praised by the likes of John Wright and Greg Chappell.

Everything that I’ve heard and read about him speaks volumes about his character. In his playing days, he was a good all-round cricketer, a hard hitting left-hand batsman and a good right-arm off-spinner. He played for the University of Indore and then for Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy and went on to play for Central Zone in Duleep Trophy. He then took to coaching, something he was always passionate about, and helped produce outstanding cricketers like Narendra Hirwani, Amay Khurasiya and Abbas Ali. There was a time when as many as 6 players of his club used to represent MP cricket in first-class cricket. He started as the secretary of MPCA, and then he became selector for the national junior team and later the senior team. He is responsible for spotting the talents of the likes of VVS Laxman and Murali Karthik.

He impressed everyone with his work and became the joint secretary of the board and later, secretary of the board. He desired that the coming generations should receive good playing facilities which he never had. He took up the case of restoring pitches, having played on uncovered pitches many times during his career. Pitches with a little bit of bounce and grass are being developed under his able guidance so that they help upcoming bowlers to do well overseas. The current edition of IPL saw low scoring matches on an average because the bowlers were having a field day. The pitches made the game more balanced and not just batsman-dominated.

The present spot-fixing controversy hurt him. He was sorry to see that because of one or two disappointingly bad cricketers, the game and all the cricketers in it were being criticized. He was sorry to see that the game had been brought to disrepute and disgrace by a couple of bad players. And thus he decided to resign.

Being the only cricketer amidst the volley of politicians holding all the high posts, his genuine, unconditional love for cricket made him resign. How can a man of such pure conscience stay mum and be a silent spectator to the shame and disgrace that has been brought on the game he dedicated his life to?

It takes immense strength of character to do what he has. Rather than staying put and waiting for the controversy to die out as people normally do in India, he stepped down. It’s often said that politics needs good people. I speak of politics because that is what the BCCI has been reduced to – dirty, filthy politics, filled with politicians who treat it as some extended arm of Parliament, leaving sports aside. It is very difficult for good people to survive in such places and not be suffocated. Jagdale had put together his entire career taking one step a time – his journey from junior selector to senior, then joint secretary to honorary secretary; there were no short-cuts or any ambiguous aspirations. He had just one goal, and that was the betterment of cricket.

He’ll return to his life of playing tennis, listening to old Hindi film songs, reading the many books he possesses and teaching raw, young talent the nuances of the wonderful game of cricket. Yes, it still is wonderful, because of people like him. BCCI needs him more than ever. But the question is, does it deserve him?