That little man from Baroda!

The sheer lack of transparency surrounding Rohit Sharmas hamstring injury which first kept him out from all the three squads for the 202021 Australia tour and then had him miss the limited overs leg got me thinking about the time when the Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI was virtually run by its secretary Jaywant Lele from 199798 to 200001It would not be right to say that the Barodabased administrator who passed away in 2013 at 75 was the epitome of perfect cricket administration which will be touched upon later in the piece but he didnt believe in keeping injury developments a mystery to the mediaHe operated in an age where media releases were not the beallandendall of communications like it seems today If a journalist wanted clarification on a particular issue Lele would not prove elusive and at the end of the conversation you got the feeling that Lele without doing you any favours helped you get the kind of clarity that was needed to put out a storyHe brooked no nonsense A player got his shoulder injured on a tour in 1997 and when asked by a television channel about his condition on arrival home he said there was no such injury Lele fumed He told me on the record I cannot understand why he is denying the injury when 90 million watched on television that he could not throw the ball while fieldingLele was proactive even when the Indian team were playing long overseas series and kept abreast of media reports Once such report said a fast bowler was not fit and there was lack of transparency from the team management over the extent of his injury Lele read it and contacted the tour manager demanding a thorough medical report from the touring physiotherapist on his condition Lele also believed that players should not stay with the team if they were not in a position to return to fitness during a series He believed in not wasting even a rupee of Board moneyNot many players can claim to have hoodwinked him when it came to injuriesLele believed that fitness issues to an extent came in the way of Indias success during his tenure He loved calling the team consistently inconsistent and was hugely disappointed when Sourav Gangulys young bunch beat Kenya Australia and South Africa in the 2000 ICC knock out tournament but tripped against New Zealand in the finalHe told me about a visit to Chennai for a BCCI Annual General Meeting before which he happened to meet a then current batsman Lele noticed that the batsman was finding it hard to bend his neck There was a tour coming up and the batsman got picked but Lele ordered a fitness test prior to the teams departure As soon as the test was announced the player ruled himself outIm sure the BCCI puts stringent measures in place most of the time now too but Lele told me in 2001 the year he ended his association with the BCCI I have told Andrew Leipus then the Indian teams physiotherapist that I dont want to know whether a player is 20 per cent fit or 90 per cent fit Either he is fit or not fitHe refused to be swayed by doctors certificates produced by players One such certificate of a player was sent to him signed by a foreign doctor who stated that the player would be fit by a certain date The selection committee went by that date and picked the player but that was before Lele insisted on a fitness test before the teams departure The next letter Lele received was about the player saying he wont be fit by that dateLele did not get carried away with the positions and seats of power and that included BCCI presidents When Board chief AC Muthiah on the recommendation of expresident Raj Singh Dungarpur appointed Geoff Marsh for a consultancy role in Indian cricket in the midst of appointing John Wright as coach of the senior team Lele spoke his mind against both the present and past presidentKapil Dev who became coach in 1999 too had his share of problems with Lele Kapil reportedly sought Muthiahs permission to have pacer Ajit Agarkar to help out in the nets for the 1999 India v New Zealand Test at Ahmedabad while Lele wanted Mumbaibased Central Zone selector Anil Deshpande to watch how Agarkar bowled in a Times Shield game around the same time Lele was surprised to see Agarkar in the nets at Ahmedabad and was mighty slighted that the coach sought Muthiahs permission when he was handling Indian crickets daytoday affairs He was to say later Muthiah is my boss when we sit at meetings For everything else the Board secretary is the bossThe players and BCCI office bearers knew that there was every chance Lele would raise a red flag if procedure was not followed But he could be stubborn and oldfashioned at times He scoffed at the idea of the BCCI having a CEO and felt it would chip away at the Board secretarys powers In an interview to me at his Baroda home in 2001 not long after he lost to Niranjan Shah he said If a CEO is appointed the secretary becomes redundant To appoint a CEO youve got to have the approval of the general body Who is going to say yesThe BCCI is far more organised today Its handling of cricket in India doesnt get the kudos it deserves Everyone in the BCCI should be proud that they conducted the justconcluded IPL in an admirable fashion Its something other boards will find hard to emulatemiddays group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individuals and dont represent those of the paperKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news