The rich, yet poor BCCI

In November 2004, I asked the then coach John Wright whether he thought public expectations of the Indian team were unfair at times and if there was a need for people to be more understanding

The rich, yet poor BCCI

In November 2004, I asked the then coach John Wright whether he thought public expectations of the Indian team were unfair at times and if there was a need for people to be more understanding. I expected Wright to be a touch sympathetic towards his team that had just experienced a drop in intensity after their successful tour of Pakistan. But he came up with this as an answer, "No I don't. At the international level, players and coachesu00a0 should be judged by our performance. We have the best fans in the world. They and the media quite rightly demand fighting performances."

Without referring to performance, I wonder what sort of commitment does the Board of Control for Cricket in India have to the fans and other stakeholders of Indian cricket. Going by the way they go about treating the media could well translate into poor fan awareness simply because the fourth estate is an important vehicle to reach out to their followers.

That the Indian team did not show up for their optional practice session and no explanation was offered to the waiting journalists on Tuesday, does show the team in poor light especially at a time when its most inappropriate or for that matter, dangerous to antagonise the media.

However, it shouldn't be viewed a Team vs Media war but both parties must realise each other's importance.

It's such a shame that the Indian team has a full-fledged support staff without a professional media manager accompanying them. Team manager Ranjib Biswal performs the role of a media manager and with due respect to the various positions he has handled, he is no media professional.

Jagmohan Dalmiya may have had a lot of detractors when he called the shots in Indian cricket, but he deserves credit for agreeing to send Amrit Mathur as media manager to the 2003 World Cup and the critical tour of Pakistan in 2004. Needless to stress, it worked. Mathur may have not worked for a news agency or newspaper, but he had done some writing and was able to appreciate what the media needs.

When fans in India were going crazy after the Sourav Ganguly-led team started their 2003 World Cup campaign in rough fashion, Sachin Tendulkar came out and said before the game against Zimbabwe at Harare that the team was trying its best. His words may have helped check the uproar back home. Whether Tendulkar was talked into making a statement by the media manager or not is not known, but it was smart and effective PR, an area which Dhoni's team lacks.

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