Two good and too bad!

Shenanigans notwithstanding the Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI is a body that doesnrsquot get the credit they deserve for running the game in thislarge countryIts imperfect ways evoke serious strong and scathing criticism from the local national and international media At the end of the day realisation of their good work ought to dawn but the media which Irsquom part of stressing this because I cringe massively when people who are in the media space as commentatorssocial media influencers and even freelance writers take pot shots at the media are reluctant to give the establishment creditI believe they donrsquot care a ratrsquos behind about criticism but if at all the lack of kudos affects the BCCI theyrsquoll do well to realise that it is selfinflicted However righteously one views journalism there must be a twoway street Good press relations doesnrsquot mean fullon appeasement They are fostered through respect for what people do on both sides of the fenceIn that sense the BCCI have in my opinion displayed a callous attitude towards the people who sit in press boxes and convey whatrsquos happening to the public the very public who spend time money and most importantly passionFor example did the public know about the large number of players who were going to be rewarded at the BCCI awards night on January 23 at Hyderabad No because the cricket bosses chose not to release the names to the media Even the CK Nayudu lifetime award that was presented to Farokh Engineer and Ravi Shastri wasnrsquot made official before the eventAn exadministrator was so right when he asked me ldquoWhatrsquos the big secret over these awardsrdquo In short the awards were held virtually unannounced where the media were concernedThe pandemic caused the BCCI to include the 201920 202021 and 202122 seasons in their 202223 awards function hence awards were given away across four years But when it came to the lifetime award only two cricketers were chosen If you like me see a ring of oddity to this do you also see absurdity in the fact that no woman cricketer was given a lifetime award at this yearrsquos function Diana Edulji who declined to be honoured with the award when she was a member of the Supreme Courtappointed Committee of Administrators CoA to run Indian cricket should have been honoured for her services to cricket now that the CoA doesnrsquot existOne wonders what sort of thinking goes into the lifetime awards Actually I shouldnrsquot wonder because I have heard how suggestions to give Ajit Wadekar the lifetime award which he eventually got in 2011 were met with objections from influential board officials because Wadekar got involved in the Indian Cricket LeagueIn fact the late India skipper is still being passed over for honours by his own state associationThere should have been four lifetime award winners in a combined season function And women cricketers should have been lifetime recipientsBack to the media I donrsquot think that the press fraternity should be too upset about not being invited to the awards function Itrsquos the BCCIrsquos party after all although it wonrsquot hurt the board too much to invite those reporters covering the Testmdashin this case reporters for the Hyderabad gameHowever not giving out information in a proper fashion is downright inexplicable For example it was amusing for journalists to listen to Rohit Sharma speak about Rajat Patidar as the replacement for onleave Virat Kohli at the preTest media conference in Hyderabad even when the BCCI hadnrsquot made it publicProbably itrsquos fair to presume that the BCCI donrsquot deem the media important and itrsquos time to face that truthWhile flipping through the BCCIrsquos commemorative volume published in 1979 for their golden jubilee I came across this passage under the sub head Press Radio and Television written by M Chinnaswamy the then president of the BCCI ldquoThe most powerful media of communication of the twentieth centurymdashfree Press Radio and Televisionmdashhave done a lot in popularising the game of cricket in India It is not possible for everyone to see a Test match for reasons more than one but all who are keen lovers of the game can keep themselves posted fully by listening to the ballbyball commentary on the Radio all over the country Those who are fortunately placed can occupy a comfortable seat in front of their or their neighbourrsquos television set and lsquoseersquo the match televised though at centres where the Tests are played Television has affected the gatetakings adversely The Press of course must get the top billing in these media The sportswriters however critical they might be regarding administration the game and the players have nothing but the good of the game in their hearts The Board has always looked upon them as messengers that carry goodwill from city to city and country to countryrdquoUnless the BCCI comes halfway down the pitch as it were commit to better media relations and take on board pun unintentional the fact that there will be ups and downs in their partnership runs will be scored only from one end And the cheers will be limited to just their setof cheerleadersmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper