A few good men

Can we now hope that sports administration as a whole will see fairer days?

Kiran Kumar Reddy was an efficient wicket-keeper batsman who captained Hyderabad’s under-22 team in the early 1980s. The team included Mohammed Azharuddin, who recalls that he played his first Test against England in 1985 with the kit presented by Reddy. Around this time, Reddy’s interest in cricket began to flag. He never played Ranji Trophy. However, the other interest which began to consume him, politics, saw him take oath as Andhra Pradesh’s chief minister on Thursday. Reddy may still be interested in cricket. In 2006, he did not say no when Shivlal Yadav, now BCCI vice-president, and D S Chalapathi, Hyderabad Cricket Association’s secretary, requested him to be nominated as HCA’s vice-president.

Yet, to your columnist, the more significant arrival of a cricketer on a political stage happened not in Hyderabad but in Bangalore, where Anil Kumble won the president’s post in the Karnataka State Cricket Association elections on Sunday, defeating Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, a Mysore royal.

Kumble is not alone. Javagal Srinath was elected to the post of secretary and Venkatesh Prasad was elected vice-president. The three fought as a unit. Rahul Dravid has extended his support to the trio.

There is something about these men. They played a lot together. That was the time when Karnataka seemed to be running an assembly line of India cricketers, a time when Dodda Ganesh, Sunil Joshi and others, too, got in. Srinath and Prasad formed a successful new-ball pair, which would hand over the ball to Kumble. Kumble still plays IPL and his bowling and captaincy were the key to Bangalore playing the final. Srinath has been an international match referee of repute. Prasad has coached the Indian team. All three speak well and could have become commentators, dissing the team in defeat and eulogising it in victory.

But what they have done goes beyond all that. In extending their camaraderie outside the cricket field and into cricket politics, these men have made it clear that they are not in the game of bagging positions of power purely on the basis of who they know. In doing so, they have also chosen to put their hands up and be accountable. As you would know, those who get position of influence purely on the basis of who they are and who they know, without contesting elections, manage to evade accountability. All right, let’s take names here: Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi sat on IPL’s governing council when all the alleged things were taking place.

Kumble, Srinath and Prasad chose to put their reputations on the line and fight elections. Their ascent raises hope. India’s cricket board is the richest in the world and the team is ranked number one in Tests. But that cannot conceal the many misdeeds that take place in our cricket administration. These three are clean men. Kumble, in particular, has proved himself an astute statesman. For instance, he handled the team adroitly when the so-called Sydneygate was unfolding.

And then there is always the hope that good cricketers, who are also good men, may have a greater role in politics some day, reversing the trend of politicians having a say in cricket.

(suveen.sinha@bsmail.in)