Commercial power & branding of the Indian cricket captain has a huge say in the destiny of the Indian team ( this is a truth that no one has ever talked about )

[rangeelaraja]

SRT was and will for a long time remain the most powerful brand in Indian cricket for a long time.

 

I don't know if this is just me, but I've noticed a very very strong relationship - between the commercial power and the branding of the Indian cricket captain and the power he wields in everything that has got to do with Indian cricket.

 

If we look at this on a case by case basis - I can prove this. 

 

Ganguly as passionate as he was, even at his peak - he was a much smaller brand than SRT. He had to fight tooth and nail  with the selectors and BCCI to get the players he wanted.

 

He could not even demand the pitches he wanted !! I remember some  absolute pattas that were rolled out by BCCI for our home series  that totally blunted out Kumble and Bhajji.

 

Does anyone else remember that episode with that H*****r Shashank Manohar -who deliberately created a pitch during the 03/04 home series against the Aussies that would hugely hugely favor the Aussies. For the uninitiated here is tidbit on that

https://www.news18.com/blogs/india/sanjay-jha/what-really-happened-in-nagpur-test-2004-10972-745193.html

 

This was how "weak" the Indian captain was because of a lack of a powerful commercial brand.

 

In comes Dhoni - won everything under the sun for us - ICC Champions trophy, T20 WC, WC, No.1 test ranking , ODI series win in Australia, many titles for CSK and a strong backing by Srini. ...in the process of all this he also became a commercial juggernaut.

 

He would always get the team, pitches, he wanted, he could dictate terms to the BCCI like no one.

 

In between Ganguly and Dhoni - we had a phase of Dravid and Kumble - truely GREAT cricketers for India , but never great commercial brands, they also lacked the power to dictate terms- or atleast thats how it seemed to me.

 

Enter Kohli - he can get the head coach ( Kumble ) fired, he can get pitches exactly likes he wants them for our home series, he can continue on and on despite countless failures in ICC tournaments.

 

He is a formidable commercial brand.

 

Till he continues to be so, he will be unshakable and our team performances in major ICC tournaments will continue to suffer. 

 

[rangeelaraja]

And by the way, this is just not true for India.

 

In the neighborhood, a filthy mediocre  brainless cricketer - Shahid Afridi remained one of the most influential people in Pak cricket. He could retire and unretire countless times.

 

He was 10 times the commercial brand compared to genuine great ( by Pak standards) like Younis Khan.

 

And hence the massive gulf in power and influence between the both of them. 

 

 

On the flipside look at England, Australia. No cricketer no matter how successful commercially or on the field can step on the coach's toes nor dictate terms to their respective boards. 

 

I wish we changed to significantly reduce the power of the captain.

 

Unfortunately, even with Ganguly as BCCI president, things will not change. He is as political as they come. Always was.