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CRICKET ROADSHOWS

Week 12 Review - 27 Jul, Lord's Roadshow fails to find Sunny delight

Whispers of corruption, colonialism and committee chicanery stirred up the emotions on Saturday's Cricket Roadshow, with former Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar taking on the role of chief provocateur.

The original "Little Master" took exception to what he perceived as the continuing portrayal of India as a third world country still languishing in a technological oasis and launched a stinging attack on the ICC's reluctance to accord it more power.

"Just have a look at the pictures you showed just now," he said. "The pictures were of people carrying buckets and something else, and nothing about the modern India. So the old colonial attitude is still there.

"India has made progress but the attitude towards India is still the same because we still keep seeing the same pictures," lamented Gavaskar. "When we come here we show postcards of London in its modern glory, we don't show postcards of some of the shanty towns, and there are shanty towns in London as well, but we don't show that. But that is the feature that always happens with India."

He also protested at the way Jagmohan Dalmiya, the outspoken president of India's cricket board, is portrayed as a power-hungry bureaucrat intent on "wrestling" the ICC away from its former colonial rulers.

"I think this is a misconception that the subcontinent wants to wrestle. I think what the sub-continent is only trying to do is assert its rights," said the former Test opener.

"Over a period of time when Australia and England had the veto rights nobody said a thing. England and Australia could veto anything else that the other six playing countries – in those days – proposed. Then two, England and Australia, could actually veto it and nobody said a thing. Not a peep.

"Now when the sub-continent stands up and wants to be counted people are saying 'Heh, what are they trying to do?' Nothing, they're just trying to assert their rights."

The combative Gavaskar was clearly warming to his theme and then embarked on a vociferous defence of the controversial dealings of Dalmiya.

"I think he has probably been the voice that has taken the Indian self-assertion, cricketing self-assertion I might add, to the ICC. Perhaps because he has been plain speaking he hasn't been liked," argued "Sunny" Gavaskar.

"I think again you have these set images and ideas about certain people and when everybody thinks of Mr Dalmiya it's got to be something shady, but that's nonsense. I could show you so many instances of others also, down in this part of the world, but I won't," he added mischievously.

Not content with that, he added: "I would have loved to have seen him take the whole office (ICC) down to Calcutta because that's where his base was."

It was a view partly shared by Ravi Shastri, another former Indian Test star but now working for Channel 4 this summer.

"They are not trying to wrestle with anybody, they have a voice. Mr Dalmiya has a voice and he wants everyone to know that he has a voice. He wants to stand up and be counted," said Shastri.

"I think the biggest problem in the ICC is that in the top brass you have some blokes with inflated egos and I think those egos should be kept in the bedroom. If Malcolm Gray has a problem with Jagmohan Dalmiya in the interests of the game, if you want the game to carry on and move forward, they should communicate a lot more. If they have ego problems they should keep them aside, in the interests of the game they should move ahead."

Unsurprisingly, ICC chief executive Malcolm Gray was of a different opinion and argued that financial clout can't be the only consideration despite India's indisputable domination in that particular arena.

"I don't believe that the only criterion is where the money comes from. Cricket is based on countries playing against each other and there is a lot of money generated from other cricket playing countries," he said.

"Yes, India is the most valuable country in terms of where money is generated – that's a factor of population and the number of people watching television – but it's not the only criterion that we would take into this discussion."

Gray found an ally in fellow Australian and Channel 4 commentator Richie Benaud, who reasoned: "I don't see any need to move the ICC from anywhere. They've only just moved to Monaco and that's a pretty good place to be.

"If they start trying to move it to other places you'll have financial considerations come into that and all the good things that have happened financially to the ICC in recent years will disappear if they try to move them from Monaco.

"I don't mind India having power, or Australia having power or whoever, in fact I'm very pleased that the veto that Sunil was talking about has disappeared. There shouldn't be a veto, it shouldn't happen that way.

"I think that if they just use their brains and common sense – although as Michael Holding often tells me common sense is not often that common, particularly in the ICC – if they just used their brains then everything will work very, very well."

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