Vision Statement for Indian Cricket

The BCCI will convene a panel of eminent cricketers. This panel will be briefed to explore the possibility of mandatorily turning national cricketers into professionals in the fullest sense of the word - in the sense that once taken under the board's wings as a national player, the board will be the employer, the players will be employed to do nothing but play cricket round the year.

They will not be permitted to accept outside employment. In return, the board will pay a base salary to each contracted player, round the year, with further payments being made for matches played, the payment structure to incorporate performance bonuses.

The contractual structure will be graded, on seniority and on merit. Players who under-perform will be demoted, good performance will be rewarded with the player concerned being promoted to a higher payment grade.

Such a system is seen to have one major advantage - the players are available to the board, not only during the match season, but round the year. The board recognizes that practice and improvement is not possible during an actual match or tour - such essentials are best conducted during the off season. With the players on full-time contract, the national cricket academy will be enabled to hold specialised coaching stints in the various disciplines, batting, bowling, fielding et al, during the off season to ensure that the national teams are at any and all times, match-fit and ready.

The players will be given continuously updated training in social and media management skills. The board recognises that players are ambassadors of the people and the country. Therefore, it is the duty of the players to present the best possible face in course of their public interactions - and to this end, the board will provide all necessary training.

Further, the board will appoint a full-time mediaperson for the players. While individual players will have the freedom to interact with the media, they will be contractually bound to refrain from airing team and inter-personal disagreements in the public forums. While they will have the freedom, thus, to discuss ongoing matches, and to respond to cricketing questions, they will not question in the media the team tactics, or comment adversely about their fellow players, captain, and coach. This is not meant as an infringement of personal freedom - rather, this clause is to ensure that unnecessary bad blood is not created within the team members. The right forum for such criticism is the team meeting, and the players will be obliged to adhere to this code.

In return, the players will be made an integral part of cricket management. Thus, the captain, vice captain and coach will be a co-opted member of the various committees dealing with pitches and grounds, scheduling of home and away fixtures, etc. No schedule, either home or away, will be finalised without the approval of the captain, vice captain and coach, who will in their turn present the draft schedules to the team members for discussion.

Schedules will be drawn up with due care being taken to space the tours out. The balance between home and away tours will be maintained, the overall objective being to ensure that in a four -year span of time, the national team meets all other Test-playing nations in Test and ODI series, at home and away. The board will ensure that the national team does not take part in more than a maximum of two standalone one-day triangular tournaments in a year - care will be taken to maintain proportionate balance between Tests and one dayers.

Further, schedules will take into account the provision of a sufficiency of warm-up games before the various Tests, as also sufficient travel and recovery time between venues.

No Indian team will ever return from a tour, unsuccessful because of faulty scheduling.

It has been noticed in the past that often, when the national team tours, host nations either inadvertently or deliberate fail to provide adequate practice facilities, net bowlers, etc. Such conditions will be written into tour agreements, henceforth. Any failure to adhere to these conditions will be frowned on by the board. On tour, the team represents the board, as much as it represents the country. The board will for its part look after the team's interests. If a host country is found to compromise those interests, the board will react by pulling the team out of the tour - the board is aware that the Indian team has enormous drawing power with the fans. The team deserves the best of conditions to perform - and if those conditions are not made available, the board will not allow the team to suffer, but will back it with all the energy and clout at its disposal.

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