Pray, Jaipur does not haunt us like Nagpur

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In two and a half decades of covering cricket around the world, I have not come across a single incident where India have been provided practice wickets tailor-made for their needs, writes Pradeep Magazine. More... Pray, Jaipur does not haunt us like Nagpur pradeepmagazine@hotmail.com September 28, 2008 First Published: 00:55 IST(28/9/2008) Last Updated: 09:44 IST(28/9/2008) Nagpur, much like Jaipur, is a burgeoning city where the new and the old jostle for space, where development may get reflected in the widening of roads but chaotic traffic and congestion still remain. It is here, in 2004, that the Australians finally conquered what they had termed "the final frontier". As the debate on whether the Rajasthan Cricket Association should have rolled out the red carpet to the touring Australians gets shriller by the day, the memory of those few tumultuous days in a wintry Nagpur month flashes across the mind. The Indians, after losing the Bangalore Test, had run the Australians very close in Chennai, before rain on the final day ruined a riveting Test which could have gone either way. The series was very much alive. The excitement and suspense of "what next" received a hammer blow even before the Test began. A green, hard wicket sent waves of panic through the Indian team and its well wishers. No one could understand why and how the Indians could prepare a wicket which suited the Australians to a T and put the Indians on the defensive straightaway. Even the Australians were shocked at this unexpected bounty. For two days, Sourav Ganguly tried his best to persuade the curator and even went up to the president of the Vidharbha Cricket Association, Shashank Manohar, requesting him to at least cut the grass on the track. Those were the days when Jagmohan Dalmiya was still in power and Manohar was the most vocal supporter of the rival camp. He would not budge. Ganguly "withdrew" from the match citing an injury, India was decimated and the Australians won a series in India for the first time ever. As Manohar steps into the shoes of Dalmiya and Sharad Pawar today and takes over the reins of Indian cricket, the present controversy should remind him of what happened on his home turf four years ago. The circumstances here are dissimilar in many ways. It will be childish, if not downright silly, to think for even a moment that Greg Chappell is revealing Indian secrets and betraying a country he once coached. In the first place, there are not many secrets that the other side, in this age of technological revolution, won't know. In the second place, no coach, let alone someone like Chappell, who has a CV of many failures in this role, can, through his skills, transform a team into doing what it is not capable of. So let us not ridicule ourselves by harping upon this betrayal theme. Chappell, in this globalised, professional world, has every right to choose his calling and earn his living from whichever side values his skills. The important question that needs to be raised is, did Chappell get wickets prepared at the Academy on specifications from the Australians? As the head (or chief consultant) of the cricket academy in Rajasthan, he had an advantage of being in a position where he could get things done - which were otherwise not possible. Here, he was performing dual roles in conflict with each other. As a consultant of the Australian team, he has to serve their interests but as the RCA academy chief, he, in many ways, is answerable to Indian cricket interests as well. Or am I wrong here? In two and a half decades of covering cricket around the world, I have not come across a single incident where India have been provided practice wickets tailor-made for their needs. They have had to make do with whatever was available and no host association ever went out of its way to provide quality net bowlers, something which the Australians are being provided so generously by the RCA. By making wickets - and it takes months to do so - which would help the Australians enormously in coming to terms with turning tracks here, he has done a great service to the team of which he is a paid employee, but, in many ways, shown scant respect for professional ethics. Like 2004 Nagpur, one only hopes that 2008 Jaipur does not come to haunt India again.

[Desi Cartman]

Excellent article ...

[beetle]

If Jaipur does a nagpur...then Lalit Modi should officially be declared anti indian cricket and should be removed. If this happens,I will boycott his stupid baby,IPL!

[Chaos]

If Jaipur does a nagpur...then Lalit Modi should officially be declared anti indian cricket and should be removed. If this happens' date='I will [b']boycott his stupid baby,IPL!

you think they will care about you and me not watching it??? :D

[Dravid]

***ing idiots.

[fineleg]

Lalit Modi only cares abt $$$ and he is doing his bit in aiding Aus prep :angry_smile:

[Ram]

What sort of nonsensical kiddish mentality is this, whining over some souped up practice facilities? Aussies arent going to be transformed overnight coz of these preparations. Get over it and get on with the game I say.

[Dinx - the Jinx]

What sort of nonsensical kiddish mentality is this, whining over some souped up practice facilities? Aussies arent going to be transformed overnight coz of these preparations. Get over it and get on with the game I say.

Agreed that there is not going to be any overnight transformation. But the point is, it gives them the opportunity to get used to the conditions. Would you agree or not? The question is - why should we do that? Cricket is professional today and players are getting ruthless. We have perennially complained about umpires being supportive of Aussie cause (even neutral umpires that is) and now our own Cricket Academies are going against us. You're saying, we i.e we fans are whining about something and you call it kiddish. Do you know that even the players in the Indian team are upset about it and they are complaining. It may not be coming out in the news publically, but thats the fact. So are you saying, even Indian players are being kiddish in complaining that Aussies are getting this treatment Now you may ask - whats wrong in offering these facilities to the Australians. Many people are arguing that, they (the aussies) asked for it and got it, whereas we (bcci) dont ask for it. If your memory is right, get back to June 2007, when Rahul Dravid, the then captain was upset when the itenary of India's down under was out. He was upset because we had just about a week to get used to the conditions and just one warm up match before the first test in Melbourne, which we lost within 3 days. He wrote to the BCCI and BCCI requested CA to give one more practice match, which was flatly refused by CA. In that situation, can BCCI write to the state academies in Victoria or Queensland and ask, them to prepare wickets and provide facilities for the touring Indians? Would that be adhering to the protocol? And even if we did that, do you think those Academies would have been happy to give us what we wanted? Not even in your dreams. Had we given that one extra match, chances are that we could have atleast drawn the test at Melbourne, which means, the series would have ended in a draw. By asking RCA to prepare practice wickets (10) and an extra match, without BCCI's knowledge Cricket Australia has broken the protocol. Also, this was posible for them only cos Greg Chappel is associated with RCA. Definitely, this sort of request would have been turned down by a DDCA or KSCA or atleast they would have asked them to route the request through BCCI. Greg has used his powers (or rather influence) to get this done and Lalit Modi (for money or whatever reasons) has agreed to roll the red carpet, knowing very well that this is going to be detrimental for India in their campaign to regain the BGTrophy, much like what Shashank Manohar did, 4 years ago. This is exactly what we are grudging about. Dont call this kiddish