Let me make it clear right out of the gate that I hate the ICC. It’s supposed to be cricket’s governing body, but all I see is ineptitude and politicking. Think about it - the next two ICC presidents have already been chosen. Malcolm Speed, as much as you might hate him, was thrown out for refusing to side with a point of view that was against his fundamental beliefs. The situation in Zimbabwe has been deplorable for several years now. Players across the world are motivated by the pots of money being dangled in front of them. Add to that the utterly incompetent BCCI and its single-minded approach to milk cricket for ridiculous sums of money, and you have what I like to call a clusterfuck.
There’s no point in listing the numerous debacles that the ICC has been involved in over the years - they have been well-documented. What’s frustrating is the ICC’s inability to learn from past mistakes and enforce the laws of the game in a fair manner. Furthermore, they keep cramming the international calendar with more and more events, thus diluting the importance of the ODI World Cup. We now have the Champions Trophy, the Twenty20 World Cup, and a proposed T20 Champions League for top domestic T20 teams from around the world. On top of these events, the ICC expects every international team to play a certain number of Tests and ODIs every year. Eventually, the players are just not going to be able to cope and will start breaking down, retiring, or only playing one form of the game.
With the latest saga surrounding Speed, it’s become clear that there is deep-rooted factionalism within the ICC. The BCCI perhaps wields too much power due to its enormous wealth. Instead of actually improving playing conditions for the domestic competition or assisting poorer boards, the BCCI just looks for new ways to make more money. Nothing exemplifies the greed within the BCCI better than the fact that politicians such as Sharad Pawar are in charge of running it. Here’s a man who first broke away from the Congress to form the NCP, only to come crawling right back to Sonia Gandhi by forming an alliance for the sake of power in Maharashtra. This man has no integrity and is entrusted with running the world’s richest sporting body. Fantastic.
During the Harbhajan incident in Australia, I was happy that the BCCI was doing something about it, even if it involved arm-twisting the ICC. My support was not for the player - Bhajji is hardly the ideal role-model - but for justice. There was insufficient evidence to prove he was guilty and Procter believed the Aussies’ word over that of the Indians. After having gotten off the hook, Harbhajan goes and slaps Sreesanth after Mumbai lost their third consecutive IPL game. Great way to mask your inability to lead the team to a win. I think he just lost all the sympathy he gained from the Indian fans during the Australia series. Furthermore, he is going to create discomfort in the national team dressing room, if chosen for any more international tournaments.
As a cricket fan, I’m concerned with the current state of affairs. There is an increasing amount of resources being dedicated to add glamor to the game by means of T20 games. While it’s great that the ICC wants to take the game to countries like the US and increase popularity, a better course of action will be to first improve things in countries that already play the game. You need a strong platform before you start building up. Unfortunately, that platform is looking increasingly shaky and threatens to take down the whole building with it. The game needs strong leadership that is free from political wrangles, greed, and factionalism. But where is it going to come from? Certainly not from those currently in charge. Former players with influence and who care about the game, please take over the ICC. I will tolerate bad TV commentary for the sake of the game.