By Qaiser Mohammad Ali
Kanpur, Nov 11 (IANS) The glaring absence of a media manager, lack of cohesion with its affiliated units and a completely unprofessional manner of working of the almost $10 billion-worth BCCI was again evident a day before the third India-Pakistan One-Day International here Sunday.
The huge media contingent, including foreign journalists, was left groping in the dark as no Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official was present to co-ordinate things at the Green Park Stadium and outside it Sunday.
Even the organisers, the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA), were not able to answer many questions posed by over 100 media personnel – on the teams’ practice sessions to the usual match-eve media interaction – in the absence of instructions from the BCCI.
The communication gap between the BCCI and UPCA has been stark in the days leading up to the match.
“We have been getting absolutely no instructions from the board on anything. For instance, we got to know that Coca-Cola was the official drink for the match just four days ago,” an official of the UPCA told IANS.
And it was perhaps for the first time in many years that the Indian team played an ODI without a single hit at the ‘nets’. Coach Lalchand Rajput, however, claimed that “the staff in Mohali was on leave” because of Diwali and therefore no practice session could be arranged.
Pakistan, incidentally, had a practice session at the same venue in Mohali before flying out to Lucknow on way to Kanpur.
In the final outcome, the media was the most affected ‘stakeholder’, as the fourth estate is termed by the BCCI. Things could have been much better had the BCCI appointed someone to liase with the media and the local organisers.
Even if a media manager was not to be named, the board could have instructed its logistics manager, Russel Radhakrishnan, to also liase with the media. After all, the BCCI has budgeted Rs.500,000 for payment to the logistics manager for this series comprising five ODIs and three Tests. So, he could have been asked to step in to fill the void created by the absence of a media manager.
The BCCI has earmarked another Rs.500,000 for the co-ordinator of the series. Rufus Rocky is attached with the Pakistani team as co-ordinator while the Indian team has none. Or, if there is one, no one in the media knows about it.
There is more bad news for the Indian journalists planning to tour Australia next month as the BCCI has earmarked no budget for a media manager for the long series Down Under. On the other hand, the board has set aside Rs.1 million for the yet-to-be-appointed coach/cricket manager, Rs.500,000 to the administrative manager and Rs.300,000 for the logistics manager for the same tour.
The irony is that there is no dearth of money for the BCCI, which is worth $9.6 billion, as per its financial statement year ending March 31.
“It is the lack of interest and will on the part of the officials that is solely to blame,” say experts.
In April, the BCCI had grandly announced that it would “appoint a media manager for two years”. But no one has been appointed so far. Insiders say that no discussions have taken place either on appointing one.