KSCA - Where Do We Go From Here?

The tension on many faces at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, late evening on Sunday the 21st November 2010, was very noticeable. Milling around the premises of the stadium and the Club House lawns were the members, former cricketers and journalists, most having tippling conversations. Around 10.00 pm news started to trickle in. Team Kumble were leading. In about an hour’s time, the fire crackers went off. Who had won was anyone’s guess as no official confirmation was available at the lawns of the KSCA Club House, but the news in the air was in favour of the Kumble and team.

Rumours about Kumble contesting in the KSCA elections surfaced many months ago, but differing views grew stronger thereafter. Many would have been surprised when the incumbent Secretary Brijesh Patel made the announcement that he was stepping down, and backing Team Kumble in this year’s elections. Even the most optimistic on either side would have not been assured of a sweeping win or a majority. That, eventually, one side garnered a huge majority atleast takes away the ills of a split verdict, as was the case last time around. One also wonders if this victory of Team Kumble was not just against the Wadiyar camp but also a personal win over Brijesh Patel, though he did announce that he was backing Kumble and company.

Improving cricket was one of the key agenda points of Team Kumble. The fact of the matter is that Karnataka came very close to being the Ranji Trophy Champions in the previous season, just losing a very closely fought game. Four of the playing XI in the last Ranji game are from mofussil areas, including the Captain of the side. Talented young cricketers like Mithun, Manish Pandey, K L Rahul, Satish Ganesh have emerged, and are rated as players who could go further. How valid is the accusation that cricket was not improved?

On the point of infrastructure, the Chinnaswamy Stadium per se is not a bad place. The stadium and the Club House have seen several improvements in the years gone by, though there is always room for more improvements. Taking away credit from Brijesh Patel for all the positive changes he brought forth during the dozen years he managed the affairs of the Association would be grossly unfair. Arrangements for quality food during matches, ticket purchase using technology where cellular text messages were used by patrons to collect tickets when arriving at the stadium rather than mandatorily visit the stadium to buy tickets, web portals to sell tickets, wireless internet connectivity in some parts of the stadium – the basic, and some beyond basic facilities were certainly in place. Interestingly, “cricketers as administrators” was exactly the mantra in the air when Brijesh wrested power from the late C Nagaraj, who had until then ruled the association with an iron fist as it’s Secretary. Brijesh apart, several former Karnataka cricketers were very much part of the group that managed the affairs of the association over the last twelve years. Kirmani had been involved with matters of the association in several capacities, as was Raghuram Bhat, and other Karnataka Ranji stalwarts.

If there was a huge negativity in Brijesh’s regime, it was one of perceived high-handedness, favoritism, a lack of gratitude and an intolerant attitude when matters were not to his liking or interests. Though the matters of administration were managed very well, good governance was apparently the question mark. Brijesh’s stronghold suffered with the split verdict during the last elections, which led to the Brijesh/Wadiyar coalition. There always was news of the game suffering from a problem of “son stroke” where selections to the State sides were concerned. The selection of Brijesh’s son Udit Patel had always been debated, and he continued to remain in the squad inspite of all comments and criticisms. You cannot please all, and in the case of Brijesh, the coin certainly had two shining and very striking sides.

Pre-election discussions had centered on the ability of the ‘newcomers’ to manage the affairs of the association. It will be very interesting in another twelve months to see what the new incumbents have achieved. “We will corporatise the functioning” is one of the post victory statements. A Corporate can be either – a good one or a bad one. Satyam had awards for Corporate Excellence before the can of worms came out screaming.

Kumble is widely acknowledged as a man of very high integrity, as is Dravid, who by virtue of the win for his Club side can be actively involved in the affairs of the association. Dravid is also known as someone who has never hesitated to speak his mind and voice differing opinions openly with the management, which an active cricketer is normally not keen to indulge in.

“Managing the association needs a lot of physical presence and efforts at the premises” is one strong view that is prevalent now. Kumble is expected to continue to be a big part of RCB in IPL, Srinath would have match referee assignments (won’t he be busy for 42 day World Cup and Venkatesh Prasad is a commercial coach. How high in their list of priorities would be the affairs of the association? How well would aspects such as planning and delegation evolve? Of what character and integrity would be the people they choose to administer the game and the infrastructure? How well will situations of a "conflict of interest" be dealt with?

A good many questions will come into play, as Team Kumble now take guard.
And as for us local people, we sure heave a sigh of relief. Sure enough Vijay Mallya is an MP, but there are no hard core politicians now in-charge of managing the K(umble) S(rinath) Cricket Association. This is a huge blessing considering how completely bankrupt the State is when it comes to political leaders with any sense of integrity!!

Good luck Anil and Team!! They have whipped up euphoria as well as high expectations. Time now to deliver a world-class performance on a completely different wicket!! It could all boil down to bridging the “knowing v/s doing” gap in the months ahead.

PS:
In this scenario, one is reminded of the classic song ‘Games People Play’ from the band ‘The Alan Parsons Project’. “Where do we go from here? Now that all of the children are growing up…………….”. Ofcourse the context and meaning of the song is different, but the song title and the first lines look to be related!