Vision Statement for Indian Cricket

On paper, India has a much more structured domestic cricketing set up than most other nations. In fact, the Indian domestic structure alarmingly fails to throw up fresh talent in sufficient numbers.

This clearly indicates that there is something terribly wrong with the domestic structure, impressive though it is on paper.

The board will therefore do away, within a set time frame of two years, with the present state-based structure of domestic cricket. The board recognises that some states have an abundance of talent, others are equally poor. To make them play one another is sheer folly. Tinkering with the existing structure by splitting the national competition into two groups is not a long range solution of promise, either.

Therefore, the board will put together a comprehensive proposal to introduce a professional league in the country, at the expense of the existing system. While the board proposes to get an expert, qualified committee to draft the comprehensive proposal, the broad outline is as follows:

The board will open for bidding, rights to field teams at the national level. The twelve highest bidders will then be picked, and given the right to field teams flying their individual colours. Each team owner - the term 'owner' to include both individuals and corporates, provided they come in the 12 top bidders category - will have the right to recruit players from any part of the country, irrespective of 'zones' and other geographical boundaries. Further, each team owner will also have the right to recruit a maximum of 2 foreign players to enhance the standard of his team.

It will be made mandatory for all national players to participate in this national league - international schedules will be so drafted that they do not clash with the domestic competition.

The 12 teams will clash for in a 'Test' style five-day competition. The games will be spread over all cricket centres in the country, in order to broadbase its appeal and to ensure that all associations benefit from attendance. The games will, further, be telecast live on the national sports channel, and the telecast will be carried out by professional broadcasters.

This Test-style competition, which should evoke enormous interest since all team owners will ensure, in their own interests, that they field quality teams, will be followed by an equally intense one day tournament.

This structure will ensure that teams of closely matched strengths are pitted in competition. To further enhance the league, no points will be awarded for drawn games, thus ensuring that teams will go flat out to win, and play at their highest powers towards that end.

Not only will such a structure enhance the appeal of domestic cricket, but it will go a considerable way towards bridging the gap between domestic and international cricket. Today, a domestic champion, fed on a diet of soft bowling on dead tracks, finds himself at sea when he plays at the highest level. Under the new structure, he will be playing in a highly competitive, international-standard league during his formative period, with the added plus that international stars will be ranged against him. The transition, thus, will not prove so traumatic - and the results can only be beneficial to the national team and its results.

In order to further aid this process, and simultaneously do our bit for the globalisation of the game, the BCCI will permit two ICC associate nations to send their national teams to participate in our domestic competition. The reasoning is simple, and easily explained - the Kenyan national team might have some trouble handling the Indian national team, but its standards are high enough that they are a match and more for the current Ranji champions. Their entry into the domestic competition, thus, will significantly enhance the competition levels of our own teams, while giving the Kenyan team a chance to further hone their skills and prepare for their eventual entry into the big leagues.

Until this structure is put in place, every effort will be made to see that the existing domestic tournaments are conducted on sporting wickets, that the Ranji Trophy and indeed, all domestic tournaments are made result oriented.

It will be noticed that thus far, no word has been said about grassroots cricket - school, collegiate and league. That is not for want of intention, but merely for procedural reasons.

The board intends to wait for the expert committee to give shape to the top-tier competition. The pattern will, obviously with modifications as required (to cite an obvious instance, obviously the question of school teams hiring foreign schoolboys to play for them doesn't arise!) be then replicated across the entire structure, again in the interests of continuity. At that point, a comprehensive action plan will be drawn up, and made public prior to implementation.

Further, information is needed in order to draw up a workable plan. The board, unfortunately, lacks such in-depth information at this point. Therefore, the state associations will be asked, with immediate effect, to appoint three-member committees of highly qualified cricketers to tour their territory, examining the grassroots cricket infrastructure from the school level on up, and prepare a comprehensive report on the existing structure of competitions, grounds, et al.

Those reports will be collated and studied by the board, in order to pinpoint the lacunae and then come up with a working model that will be implemented uniformly across the country.

BACK  | NEXT