Here is a gem from IS Bindra..who some people think is going to be a saviour of Indian cricket
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From President's Desk
04th, November, 2005
During the Jaipur One-dayer between India and Sri Lanka, two Kolkata-based correspondents sought my reaction to the perceived notion in some cricketing circles that the Pawar Group is responsible for the ouster of Saurav Ganguly from Team India. I know who is propagating such a warped theory. I tried to recreate the sequence of events to clear the air.
The first seeds of calumny were sown when the Indian team was in Zimbabwe when an itinerant correspondent linked Ganguly’s captaincy issue to board politics. I thought that was an aberration, but now I find that was part of a systematic campaign to malign the Pawar Group.
I told the two Kolkata journalists that these fictitious stories were circulated with an intent. Here I must appeal to the media not to smell a rat at every nook and corner, it will only spoil the fair name of cricket. Also, there has to be a difference between administrators who live on cricket and those who live for it. For years I have been saying that administrators should not get mixed up with players and selectors who should be insulated from board politics.
Honestly, I took little interest in politics of players and matters of selection. Even as the president of the board I scrupulously stayed away from these issues, except on matters of player discipline. There were a couple of instances when I had to put my foot down and insist on admonishing errant players, though some of my colleagues in the board wanted me to wink at them for reasons other than cricket.
The two gentlemen from the media stunned me by asking whether board politics was responsible for Ganguly’s problems. My answer was: Ganguly’s present predicament and trauma have nothing to do with the equations in the board. He has unwittingly been dragged into the unsavoury happenings in Kolkata Cricket. I asked them to just think rationally and they will realize whether the Pawar Group could have had any interest in keeping Sourav out? That’s how my friend from Calcutta plays his politics. He is prepared to sacrifice even his near and dear for his political survival.
It is common knowledge that four out of five selectors report to Kolkata for instructions. Even Soura may not believe the preposterous story that he’s the victim of board politics. It is apparent as to who is calling the shots and if he looks back and pieces together the advice he got from various people, he can track down the real culprit responsible for his present misery. As far as I can see the simple fact is that Sourav’s father Chandy Ganguly and Jagmohan Dalmiya have never seen eye to eye on matters relating to the running of the Cricket Association of Bengal, Chandy being a highly respected former CAB secretary. My friend Jaggu only bought peace with the Gangulys by making them believe that it was he who got Sourav the captaincy and also an extension when everyone was baying for his head. But, the moment he realized the elegant left-handed batsman has outlived his utility, he quickly seized the first available opportunity to dump him.
See how carefully Sourav’s exit was planned. Ever heard the board asking for an exhaustive report from a coach midway through the tour. And that for what. If the board was interested in sorting out the spat between Greg and Sourav its president or any other senior official should have rushed to Zimbabwe the moment the coach and the captain started fighting openly. Moreover, why such a confidential and explosive e-mail was asked to be sent to so many people.
I have a sneaky suspicion that someone led Ganguly up the garden path by advising him to deliberately make his differecnes with Greg public. Then Greg was asked for his version. Then the mother of all leaks, a copy of the confidential e-mail from Greg was quietly handed over to a vernacular journalist.
If Jaggu thought the leak would deflect public attention from his own trickery at the now aborted Annual General meeting he was mistaken. The AGM was not put off because of the extraneous reasons but because of his bullying tactics of filibustering to delay the election. Here I must say that the entire Zimbabwe episode made all of us hang our heads in shame because no cricket administrator would like the image of Indian cricket to be tarnished.
Jaggu’s next move exposed him completely. He is not the one to run to the mountain. Someone who used to summon the first overseas coach of the Indian team John Wright to Kolkata to discuss sundry things, he was seen flying out to Chennai, taking a late night flight en route to Mumbai for the Review Committee meeting the next day. All for a late night meeting with Greg to douse the razing fire. What on earth made him do that? Sheer desperation to wriggle out of the hole he had pushed himself into. A deal was struck and contours of which are emerging gradually.
For once, Jaggu was caught between the devil and the deep sea! If he had sacrificed Sourav he knew he would invite the wrath of the Kolkattans and if he had forced Greg to leave then the consequences would be disastrous nationally as well as internationally. Just when he was looking for an escape route, Sourav’s elbow came in handy for him. If I know Jaggu, he would have advised Sourav not to play in the Challengers in Mohali. He thought, he would kill two birds with one stone, one making Sourav ineligible for selection and, perhaps, to kill the Challenger itself by denying Mohali the opportunity of seeing a great batsman in action.
Once Sourav failed to turn up at Mohali, things have started falling in place for Jaggu. He next told the national selectors to spread the story in the media two days before they were to meet to name the captain that they had no choice but to give captaincy to Rahul Dravid since Sourav didn’t play in the Challengers on grounds of fitness. As part of the same scenario, Sourav was also told that he need not go to Melbourne to attend the ICC meeting of captains.
The media plants were nothing but a balloon to gauge public reaction as well as to prepare the Kolkattans for the dethroning of Sourav.
The story is not yet over. Sourav decided to play in the Duleep Trophy to prove his fitness and form as required under the new fitness law for the players. Chairman of selectors kept saying that the door has not been slammed on Sourav and he could force his way into the side provided the selectors are convinced of his fitness and form. When they met to select the team for the third, fourth and fifth ODIs, the selectors were upstaged by a close confidant of Jaggu who told the television channels that Sourav would not be in the side! Where does the Pawar Group come into the picture in all this.
http://cricketpunjab.com/president-message.htm?