Jack Welch had this famous theory of gradual phasing out of the deadwoods from a company.
The former chief executive of American corporate giant GE advocated weeding out of 10 per cent non-performers every year. Over 10 years, he decreed, the company would only have the best personnel.
It could, perhaps, be a little hard to replicate a successful business formula in cricket, but the American genius’ method of performance appraisal may not be entirely misplaced in the context of Indian cricket. There are quite a few deadwoods in the national team and it is imperative that a plan to phase them out is put in place. Corporatisation of the game is not a bad thing, after all.
The problem with Indian cricket is that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) still works in an archaic way. Its president heads a big corporate house, yet the BCCI’s functioning is retrograde. Sports bodies the world over are run by chief executives, general managers and business heads and here the BCCI has secretaries, treasurers and joint-secretaries managing the game. The richest cricket body in the world can do well with a little bit of restructuring. Modernisation of the BCCI may not be a bad first step towards reinvigorating Indian cricket. Will it happen?
A defeat of this magnitude calls for not only a review, but a revamp of the system. However, history tells us that the BCCI is loath to such an initiative. Its petulance, one understands, has something to do with history. The last such review, following India’s premature exit from the 2007 World Cup, resulted in a sort of indictment of the board’s mandarins. The former captains, who attended the review meeting, found fault with the board than players. Once bitten, the BCCI is forever shy.
Of late, there has been a conscious effort among the officials to downplay the seriousness of the debacle in Australia. From N Srinivasan to Rajiv Shukla, the refrain has been poor form, bad luck, Australians played better, the selectors will take a call. After the whitewash in England, Srinivasan had said, “I still have faith in these boys.” It would be a surprise if the board president said anything different this time around. The selectors may coax, cajole or convince a senior or two to call it quits but Don Argus is unlikely to find a job in Indian cricket.
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