"Never wash your dirty linen in public" seems to be a forgotten adage as far as the officials of the BCCI are concerned. Cricket has always been held sacrosanct in this country and in recent months a few individuals can be accused of being blasphemous. It all started off with Bindra, the former BCCI President, naming Kapil Dev in an interview on television as the cricketer who "offered" Prabhakar money to under perform.

What is beyond anyone's comprehension is the motivation beyond his deeds of late. Going by his own admission, several murky matters were brought to his notice during his tenure as the BCCI President. Common sense would suggest that he should have acted then, but that was not to be. Apart from dragging Kapil Dev into the match fixing controversy, Bindra started to go after the BCCI officials about certain irregularities in the functioning of the Board. As a man who has held the highest post in the apex body of the country, he may be privy to a few interesting details but there are other ways of cleaning up the house. Ultimately, his actions and words have only undermined his own purpose, that of ensuring the superior image of cricket remain untarnished. Bindra's intentions may be noble but the way he has gone about things is indicative of a man who has started something that he can't finish.

The BCCI had to convene a meeting to bring some sense of normality and also to ensure that all the officials were reminded of their responsibilities. AC Muthiah, the President, showed that the need of the hour was to be strong without ducking the issues, however discomforting they might be. He issued a show cause notice to the PCA and also to Bindra as to why they can't be expelled. Reportedly he conducted the meeting like a hard core businessman that he is, which must have startled some who are accustomed to the usual soft-pedaling. How one wishes his predecessors had been at least half as strong as him. If that were to be the case, all the issues currently hogging the limelight would have never seen daylight.

Even while the CBI investigations are on, many individuals are still giving statements endlessly which is of no help to anybody. It is incredible that the image of the game is being shred to pieces as a result of personal animosity. Come to think of it, the Prabhakar-Dev episode is about something that supposedly happened some six years ago. The spill over of this entire sensational episode now would put the current crop of cricketers under undue suspicion and tremendous pressure. As it is, the team as such is not going through a purple patch and this will mess up the mental make-up of the players further.

The rampant confusion seems to have rubbed off on the selection committee chairman as well. His statements justifying his decisions or rather his committee's decisions are as cryptic as the crossword in the Sunday Times. How on earth some players stay back in the side is a mystery. The case in point is Nikhil Chopra as he has hardly done anything worthwhile in his last few appearances. The lack of success can be overlooked if the cricketer in question shows some semblance of improvement. There has been no apparent improvement, as he has not got five wicket hauls even in domestic cricket. It is no good having a guy in the side for the sake of filling up a slot.

The exclusion of Venkatesh Prasad is debatable but at least if the selectors persist with the younger seamers, then it may prove to be beneficial in the future. This is where the Indian team is still struggling with regard to a wicket-keeper. All the keepers stumpers in the last season or two are in the thirties. My complaint is not against the age but no young wicket-keeper has been groomed to take over. The notion of looking for a keeper who can bat a bit has kept the same players in contention. Keeping wickets is a specialist's job, even more so in a one-day game as the slips are not employed by and large after the early overs. The theory of a keeper/lower order batsmen winning matches does not hold much merit.

Suffice to say that individual likes and dislikes are the dominating factors in Indian cricket and at times this has stunted the blossoming of a few young talented cricketers into major forces in international cricket. Hopefully that won't be the case with Sadagopan Ramesh, as he seems to be out of favour at the moment. No clear-cut reason has been given for omitting him other than the suggestion that there is no room for him with Tendulkar and Ganguly opening the innings. If my memory serves me right, the same duo opened in the World Cup as well and yet Ramesh was in the squad.

Emotions dictating the decision making process may be ideal for a movie plot, but it has no place in cricket where the pride of the entire nation is at stake.

© Woorkheri Raman