Muhammad Asif Khan
To run a business adequately the
existence of a competent governing body is a must, however only the competence
would be of no use if the system is not followed in it’s true spirit.
This is a universal rule, hence
also applied on the bodies responsible for running the affairs of any sport
including Cricket.
Converging on Cricket where the
International Cricket Council (ICC) is the supreme authority which, with the
help of it’s member Cricket boards, works for the betterment of the game
worldwide.
The game of Cricket also requires
a system like other walks of life but before the system and it’s effectiveness
firstly to understand the system itself is a must. By definition, the system is
consist of a set of components work in coordination or harmony to perform a
certain job, and if it’s Cricket than the ICC has the system and the member
cricket boards are it’s components.
Over the years, with the
harmonious work of the components – Member Cricket Boards – the ICC has been
able to introduce a lot of innovations to the sport and transformed it into a
much better spectacle at the moment.
But, in recent times this
harmonious love affair between the system and it’s components seems to have
jolted. Not so far ago the ICC introduced the Umpires Decision Review System
(UDRS) to minimise the element of error as much as possible but contrary to
other members, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been
tenacious and not willing to adopt the UDRS. The BCCI has it’s reading to the
situation and it does not consider the UDRS as an immaculate methodology hence
is not favouring it.
Not blaming India because a
system needs to have all it’s components working properly, while in case of the
UDRS, the major component is the Hot-Spot which should be present everywhere,
also the hawk-eye needs to be spot-on to produce error-less conclusion however
these aspect have not fully satisfied all the stakeholders.
What can the ICC do in this
situation? It can not put it’s foot-down the way FIFA did on the implementation
of the goal-line technology in football.
Before moving further, the role
of FIFA, rather the difference between the mechanisms of ICC and FIFA needs to
be understood. We can’t compare both the governing bodies because FIFA is the
federation – which has the power to impose it’s decision on it’s affiliated
units while the ICC, being a council could not go all the way against a member.
So, it’s come down to the ICC
again, India
does not like the UDRS and it’s fine they have a right to do so but what the
ICC is doing with the members who are happily willing to implement the review
system? As per the existing regulations,
if two boards playing a bilateral series then the expense for the UDRS system
would be their responsibility, however in an ICC sponsored event, this will be
the responsibility of the ICC. Again, a confusion arises, wasn’t the last
year’s ODI world cup the ICC event? Then why the UDRS was not installed there? The
answer is the descent of the BCCI.
Okay, if the BCCI has a right to
object then why other cricket boards can’t enjoy the same liberty in other
matters? When the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) says that they could not
entirely implement the ICC directives regarding a democratically elected
Cricket board then why the PCB is given a cold shoulder by the ICC?
This is not the only case. In the
ongoing women world cup, the ICC is acting as a spectator only. India says matches to be held in Mumbai or Cuttack or elsewhere, the ICC says okay, India
accommodates one cricket team which is participating in the mega event at a
stadium, which is indeed against ICC’s own regulations but again the
International Cricket Council kept mum. This strange rather partial behaviour
of the ICC puzzles the followers who wonder who is actually calling the shots?
If the BCCI is strong, then it
also means that the ICC is weak. Can’t right much on the dichotomies and just want
to leave you and ICC with a question.
Since the BCCI has set a
precedent of accommodating a national cricket team at a stadium during the ICC World
Cup then why can’t Pakistan
be given the same liberty to host any of the teams with the same condition? Yes
Pakistan
can organise a bilateral series if allowed to put the visitors at the stadium
all the time, can ICC or the BCCI do PCB this favour?
Tweet @mak_asif
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