Vohra’s view: ICC must pull up BCCI for Pakistan series impasse

Bikram Vohra 09:28 29/10/2015
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  • Unpleasant: Wasim Akram was forced to leave India.

    One can understand that in the interest of personal safety the ICC and the BCCI clambered onto the same page and advised Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar and commentators Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar to leave India because of the risk they faced from some unpleasant political elements.

    What is less difficult to understand is why things were allowed to come to such a pass and why there are no consequences to this decision.

    You have to be held accountable if you cannot ensure safety of players and officials and you then have to be seen to protect and defend the integrity of the sport you represent.

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    The ICC should ask the BCCI for an explanation on why it did not pre-empt this embarrassing impasse when there was enough evidence that these troublemakers had already engaged in disrupting a book launch and a music concert and had also made vocal their threat to thwart a meeting with PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan. 

    The BCCI itself should have taken a stand and taken Mumbai off the list of venues and not had the fifth ODI against South Africa played there. There are precedents to it.

    Hyderabad was stripped of 12 T20 Champions trophy games in 2013 ostensibly because there was no guarantee of security  by the police.

    In the current series between India and South Africa there have been calls for Cuttack to be dropped as a venue after crowds disrupted the end of the match.

    It is likely to be imposed what with Sunil Gavaskar spearheading the recommendation. Kotla in Delhi was given a year’s ban in 2010 for having a poor pitch. Eden

    Gardens in Kolkata faced a ban threat after two ugly incidents of rioting spectators in 1996 and 1999.

    Even as I write this a Pakistani team is playing in the Red Bull sponsored campus cricket world finals in Dehra Dun, north India and enjoying the experience. That makes my point most emphatically. Don’t give in to hooligans.

    And if the BCCI has failed to display the courage then the ICC must stand tall and impose fines and sanctions, atonement  commensurate with the convenient ‘sacrifice’ of these three individuals who were literally deported from India.

    Of course it is a tough decision. But doing the right thing is never easy. Imagine for a moment where the host country is Pakistan and Ravi Shastri, Gavaskar and Sundaram Ravi were flung out from there because some radical group didn’t want Indians around.

    There would have been hell to pay. The BCCI would have trotted out its highest horse, climbed into the saddle and whinnied endlessly about such gross misconduct.

    The Indian media’s orchestra would have whipped up a symphony in righteous indignation.

    But reverse the nations and it’s as if nothing happened, just another day at the office…

    Clearly, money power wins the day. But even that financial muscle flex has been placed in jeopardy.

    Hard talk: Gavaskar has sought a ban on Cuttack.

    The BCCI has signed an MOU to play six bilateral between now and 2022 against Pakistan with the first tour scheduled in the UAE (Pakistan’s official home ground) for next month. That enterprise has already broken its wing and won’t happen.

    The ICC should ask the BCCI to show cause why action should not be taken against it? It has not honored its commitment. It has also not shown moral conviction in cancelling the MOU which is still valid.

    You are not going to play Pakistan, they are not going to play you, kill the agreement for the six bilaterals.  Why maintain the charade.

    The Indian Board has also failed to explain why a neutral venue is not acceptable.

    After all, the UAE is the safest venue, has three top class stadiums, great bilateral support in the fans and no one is going to breach security here.

    If the BCCI still cannot separate politics from sport per se then what is about to be bruised is the T20 World Cup in March to be held in India because Pakistan may exercise the option of not coming, citing the tangible risk factor.

    And the goon squad, having got away with it may also be emboldened enough to threaten players from that country. Ergo, everyone loses.

    Especially since there is no sign of any India-Pakistan handclasp of warmth and friendship in the coming months, more’s the pity.

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