Cricket board chief means business

The cricket board, at last, appears to be serious about bringing some order in its administration and in exercising its authority. The board chief has put his foot down and declared that all international players must play in domestic cricket. He has also made it clear that the board would no more wink at fudging of ages by players and their associations.These two aspects should help Indian cricket a great deal even if the officials continue to manipulate matches and venues to reward or punish friends and foes. The board is also angry with international players carrying their injuries and hiding them knowingly or unknowingly and its going to be a major point of discussion besides the age issue at the working committee meeting in Delhi next fortnight. The board is also sore about players picking and choosing Ranji Trophy matches to play. The board has taken a serious view of vice-captain Rahul Dravid continuing to play with broken fingers which prevented him from fielding regularly in the slips in the series against Zimbabwe. The injury came to light with the team''s Australian physio, Andrew Leipus, informing the board in writing that the player has carried it for four months and he has now been asked to rest. To be fair to Dravid, he didn''t feel any discomfort while batting and only as a precaution stayed away from the slips. The medical opinion is that the Karnataka player has a chipped bone and that, perhaps, explains his not playing the zone''s opening Duleep Trophy tie against North at Vijayawada. Sources close to him say that he will be fit to play the remaining matches. After the Zimbabwean visit, any player interviewed stated he was looking forward to the Australian tour and was preparing for it. How? By skipping domestic cricket as the players needed rest. Some Test stars played Ranji Trophy matches only if they were held at motorable distances from their homes, but skipped the next game because they had to travel with the team by train. Of course, these days the teams take it for granted that Test stars won''t travel with them unless they were flying. Again, the players have a point. They may not be as much bothered by five-star facilities, but at least the playing conditions have to be of reasonable standards. They say they wouldn''t like to expose their limbs to an unknown fast bowler on an unpredictable underprepared pitch. The board must ensure good pitches and other facilities. There are two kinds of pitches, one a cart-track on which the roller isn''t run at all and the other is a shirt-front wicket on which the bowler has to toil eternally for getting a batsman out, rather wait patiently for him to commit a mistake. Look at the two Duleep Trophy matches and the tall scores. How do you judge the batsmen or the bowlers on such pitches? What use Tendulkars and Gangulys playing in matches where lesser mortals are piling up runs like nobody''s business. Why at all the board should issue a fiat asking players to play in domestic cricket? Whatever has happened to the rule that makes it mandatory for a player to take part in at least two Ranji Trophy matches to be eligible to play for the country? Why have rules if they are not strictly adhered to? The vexed question of age-group tournaments. This is where the board''s professional approach is vital. A professionally-manned board headquarters can computerise the records of each and every player in all age groups right from the beginning. Now that a reasonably accurate method of determining the age of junior cricketers has been found, the players should be subjected to a strict medical examination. If a player is found over-age he should be barred from playing at least for a year and the association that picked the boy should also be penalised. Unfortunately, the board penalises associations and its officials for their allegiance to the man in power or for some meaningless statement made by a satrap. Its scandalous to find associations sending players within the age group for medical tests and fielding different players in the tournaments. At this rate the doctor will have to certify players before the toss to check whether the player taking the field is the same that faced the medical board. An ingenious way to circumvent the law. There was the classic case of a youngster being debarred from playing a schoolboy tournament for being overage and his elder brother getting into the side! Someone forgot to fudge the certificates properly, but the tournament committee blindly went by the certificates. Finally, why is the board fighting shy to announce the venues of the matches against Australia, having finalised them more than a month ago as per the new rotation system? Also, why has it taken away the match between Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai and the Australians, allotted to CCI? Maybe, Raj Singh Dungarpur has the answer, and he''s not one to mince words.