 A great opportunity
 Sharad Pawar and his team have won a convincing victory in the BCCI polls. For all his remarkable contributions to the health and wealth of BCCI - though perhaps not to grassroots cricket - Jagmohan Dalmiya sought to perpetuate an autocratic regime, and the numbers ceased to add up in electoral terms when he violated democratic norms quite flagrantly in the last election.
Pawar is a career politician and his election is for that reason not an altogether happy development in cricket administration, which should be free from the grip of politicians. Of politics, there has never been a shortage in Indian cricket, but to institutionalise it would be a retrograde step. No one is questioning Pawar’s integrity or the cleanness of his intentions vis-à-vis Indian cricket, but the sooner he carries out his promises of professionalisation of the board the better it will be for Indian cricket.
 The removal of the three selectors who recently came to a meeting with the single-point agenda of bringing Sourav Ganguly back into the team has been an important first step, but that should not be seen as a sign of the continuation of the old ways of rewards for loyalty and punishment for dissent. The Pawar administration owes it to itself and Indian cricket to hasten the appointment of merit-based professional administrators including the long awaited CEO, the banishment of the zonal character of the selection panel, and the ending of the practice of awarding matches to states voting for the establishment and coveted assignments to incompetent representatives of these vote banks.
 Hopefully the new administration will not function in a vindictive spirit leading to the victimisation of cricketers merely because they belong to associations known as opponents of Mr Pawar’s lobby.
In Rahul Dravid, Indian cricket has unwittingly unearthed arguably the best captain in its history, in terms not only of cricketing ability but also man management skills, integrity and unrelenting pursuit of excellence. His is an example worthy of emulation by the Board and all concerned with Indian cricket. At his side is coach Greg Chappell, a professional hungry for India’s success in the international arena, and intolerant of mediocrity, unprofessional conduct and anti-team traits in players. It is the duty of Mr Pawar and his associates to grab this opportunity and take Indian cricket forward by striking bold new initiatives calculated to transform India’s undoubtedly talented cricketers into a performing cricket nation.
V Ramnarayan
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