In a bid to reach out to Indian cricket fans and hear their side of the story, BCCI President Mr. Shashank Manohar took part in a live chat session on Facebook. The President answered a range of questions from India’s stance on DRS to various measures being taken to raise the level of cricket in India.
Excerpts
What steps you are taking to make BCCI more transparent? We have already done certain things to portray BCCI as a transparent body. We have put nearly all the information the BCCI has on the website. This year the Annual Report, which is circulated to all the members was also put up on the website.
We have framed rules with regard to conflict of interest. We have appointed Justice AP Shah as ombudsman and we have also made a provision that any complaint is directly made to him so there is nothing in the hands of the BCCI. We will not prevent anybody from approaching the judge. We have also made his decision final and binding. As far as other things are concerned, we are waiting for Justice Lodha’s report and we will try and implement as many things as possible from the report.
What steps are being taken by the BCCI to nurture young talent? What measures are being taken to raise the standard of Indian cricket?The National Cricket Academy which was not operational in the last few years is being revamped under the directorship of Mr. Dilip Vengsarkar, an eminent cricketer. We are starting zonal academies which would take care of young cricketers from each zone. We are also conducting maximum matches for U16, U19 and U23 boys, who are then selected for India A. The Board is making all the efforts to nurture young talent.
What is that one area where India needs to improve?I think India need to improve in their pace and spin bowling attack and also physical fitness. The Board is making all the efforts to see that we get new talent of fast bowlers and spinners. The Board has decided to appoint T A Sekar as fast bowling coach and Narendra Hirwani as a spinners’ coach at the National Cricket Academy.
Sir, do we have any plans to play a full fledged series with Pakistan?As you are aware that the BCCI and the PCB had agreed to play a series, however, the issue is a complex issue which is not dependent on two boards. A political call will have to be taken by the Indian government as well as the Pakistan government. As and when the atmosphere is conducive, I am sure both the governments will agree so that a full fledged series can take place between India and Pakistan.
It would be a nice idea of shortening IPL to a month and promoting home Test series during India's real summer in May. What's your take on this?The IPL gives exposure to new talent and also gives financial security to lot many cricketers in the country. Secondly, looking at the conditions in summer (during May), it is not conducive to play Test cricket. Therefore, that period is used by the Board to play the IPL so that the Indian team can get more good cricketers.
Is BCCI still against the DRS system?
Actually, telling you the truth, the BCCI was never against the DRS system right from the time of my earlier tenure. We only had an issue with the leg before wicket decisions. For everything else, we were accepting the DRS system. At the ICC meeting, it was decided that either we accept the DRS system as whole or we don’t. Today too we are not willing to accept the DRS system for leg-before decisions because when you shoot from a distance, a parallax develops and then you are not able to give the exact direction of the delivery.
Secondly, instead of the umpire imagining the bounce, the trajectory and the direction of the trajectory, it is the person sitting behind the camera who is going into the DRS. He is going to have his imagination put in place of the umpire’s imagination with regards to bounce. There was also a discussion in one of the ICC’s Executive Board meetings where I was present in 2011, and even the person who had evolved this was not able to answer me and was not able to satisfy all the members of the ICC. There are lots of problems in the DRS system, raised by other countries. Unless and until the DRS system is full proof with regard to LBW decisions, the BCCI would not accept it.
The ICC has handed an official warning for the Nagpur pitch. The Australia vs New Zealand Test at Adelaide got over in three days. Do you think there are double standards in the way the ICC assesses turning pitches and pitches with bounce? What can the BCCI do in such a scenario?
The ICC has framed rules with regard to poor wickets. They have made rules with regard to excellent wicket, a good wicket and also dangerous and poor wicket. With regards to poor wicket they have said that where there is excessive spin or excessive seam movement, that wicket is considered to be poor.
In case of Nagpur what the match referee held was there was excessive spin and uneven bounce on the third day of the match. According to me, it is a subjective decision taken by the match referee and the decisions may vary. Whether it has uneven bounce and whether the wicket is spinning more than it is supposed to be, is again a subjective thing. One spinner may spin the ball more and the other spinner may spin the ball less and we have to take into consideration all these factors. The ICC is the supreme body. It has taken a decision and we would abide by that decision.
Why half of the matches have been allotted to Nagpur and Dharamasala in the ICC World T20 2016 when we have so many stadiums in India with better crowd attendance than these two venues?
When the ICC decided to hold the T20 event, India (BCCI) had offered eight venues for hosting the tournament. The ICC was not willing to give more than five venues due to cost constraints. But India being a huge country with lot many stadiums, Mr. Anurag Thakur, the Secretary of the Board at the Barbados meeting of the ICC, had clearly stated that India would not agree (for) less than eight venues.
On paper you may find that more matches are allotted to Nagpur and Dharamsala, but the matches have been equally distributed as far as the main draw is concerned. There are matches which are the qualifiers where Oman, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Ireland, Scotland are playing for the two spots in the main draw. Because of the cost constraints, the ICC had decided to hold these matches only at two venues. These matches are played at these two venues as they are cheapest venues.
If the ICC decided to hold these matches at different venues, the transport cost and the logistics cost would be much more as the television crew will have to be shifted from one venue to another. The teams too will have to be shifted. So the costs saved are huge. Secondly, the teams would be staying at one venue for eight days. The accommodation cost is cheapest at Nagpur and Dharamsala and that is the reason these two venues have been given qualifiers.
As far as the main round is concerned, India games have been allotted to Mohali, Dharamsala, Nagpur and Bengaluru. The semi-final games are allotted to Mumbai and Delhi and the final is allotted to Kolkata. According to me, there is an equal and even distribution which has been made as far as the main round matches are concerned.
As far as qualifiers are concerned, I don’t think this is an issue in view of the explanations which I have given that Nagpur and Dharamsala have been allotted more games. If Nagpur and Dharamsala wanted, they could have hosted the semi-finals. Nagpur could have hosted the final as it is the best stadium with the capacity of 45,000 people.
What steps need to be taken so that we have more umpires at the Elite level?
We are making an endeavour to improve umpiring standards. We have set up an Umpires’ Academy, where evaluation of umpires is done periodically by the best umpires in India. There is a monitoring system which is looked after by Simon Taufel, considered to be the best umpire in the world. We hope that India’s umpiring standards improve and we will find more umpires in the Elite Panel.
Who is your favourite all-time cricketer?
My favourite all-time cricketer is Sir Garfield Sobers and I was fortunate enough that one month back when he was in India, he spoke to me about West Indies cricket. It was a very happy moment for me.
Which was the first cricket match you watched from the stands?
The first cricket match I saw from the stands was in 1969, a Test match in Nagpur between India and New Zealand. The Indian team was led by Tiger Pataudi and unfortunately India lost that game.
Who is your favourite Test captain and why?
As far as India are concerned, according to me the best captain would be Tiger Pataudi. He was an aggressive captain; not a defensive one and would always take his team with him.
