Pawar makes Vengsarkar MPs’ messenger to SA

NEW DELHI: This was the last thing Indian cricket needed. Parliamentarians tried to politicise the game on Friday and it got a stamp of approval when BCCI chief Sharad Pawar decided to send selection committee chairman Dilip Vengsarkar to South Africa to convey to the Indian players and the coach that “the country was feeling let down”.

Sensing the mood, politicians upped the ante, with CPM’s Brinda Karat playing to the Bengal gallery with an emotional appeal for the recall of Saurav Ganguly. This, notwithstanding Jyoti Basu’s recent public rebuff to Buddhadeb Bhattacharya for entangling himself in the Bengal cricket affairs. A section of the cricket establishment gave vent to its irritation with vice-president of the BCCI, Shashank Manohar asking politicians to keep off cricket.

“I had a detailed discussion with the chairman of the selection committee. I requested him to go to South Africa immediately or as early as possible.

Discuss with the coach, captain and players and communicate the feelings of the countrymen,” Mr Pawar said. Mr Vengsarkar is expected to travel to South Africa soon. Whether his arrival there as an envoy of politicians will add to the pressure of the Indian team or will help them do their job better remains to be seen. Equally debatable, many say, is the fairness of converting the chief team selector into messenger of politicians.

Amid all this, Ms Karat sought the recall of former skipper Sourav Ganguly into the national side. “As a cricket fan, I strongly believe that Sourav should be back in the team and I think that is the feeling of so many of his fans across the country,” the party Politbureau member told reporters.

What is well known is despite the former captain’s continued poor form, there has been a campaign for his return to the team for the forthcoming World Cup. During the last Parliament session too, many politicians from Bengal had unsuccessfully canvassed for Dada’s recall.

Making her own pitch, Ms Karat said: “The flamboyant Bengali batsman should not have been excluded from the team in the first place and thousands of his fans across the country were still questioning that decision.”
Asked whether she favoured the removal of Chappell, Ms Karat’s diplomatic line was it was up to the BCCI to decide, but quickly added that the entire country had seen the record of the Aussie coach. “We have no authority to make such a demand,” she said. It’s no secret that Ganguly fans blame Chappell for his exit from the team which incidentally followed the duo’s much-publicised verbal duel.

However, Ms Karat clarified that she was speaking as an “ordinary cricket fan” and not as a leader or a Parliamentarian as politics and cricket were a “mismatch”. After making her preference clear, Ms Karat then “disfavoured too much of political interference” in cricket.

This caveat is understandable given the fact CPM heavyweights like Jyoti Basu and Subhash Chakraborty had publicly lambasted Mr Bhattacharya for getting hurt by the Jagmohan Dalmiya bouncer in the West Bengal board’s power game.

On his part, Mr Manohar said: “It seems that the politicians have little else to do but look into the matters of cricket. Just because the BCCI president is a politician doesn’t mean there is politics in the matters of sport as well.” However, he was visibly angry over the Durban defeat, saying the Indian cricketers should “not be paid a single penny” for the way they played in Durban.

Mr Manohar, who has been for long advocating the introduction of the pay-by-performance scheme for the Indian team, added that the Board was not to be blamed for the team’s poor performance. “We are administrators and we have done our utmost to provide the players with the best of facilities and support staff. It’s the job of the players to deliver on the field, not ours. We at best can take corrective action and measures,” he said.