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India Today Conclave

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Day 3 March 15, '08

Story

India-Australia, world cricket's new partnership

Abhilasha Khaitan

New Delhi, March 15, 2008

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India and Australia are less bitter rivals and more partners in arms. They just don't know it yet. That was the verbal doosra that celebrated cricket writer Peter Roebuck bowled at the India Today Conclave, giving a fresh perspective to India's thunderous tour Down Under. "India has changed, and become a little like Australia," said Roebuck, referring to the increasingly egalitarian composition as well as aggressive attitude of the Indian team, adding wryly, "Of course, neither is liking it too much."

Thousands of runs, hundreds of wickets and reams of insight shared a dais to discuss what was cricket, and what was not. Chairing the session 'It's Just Not Cricket', India Today deputy editor Sharda Ugra said at the outset that the need of the hour is to set a benchmark for the conduct of the game. And while the incomparable Adam Gilchrist, the unstoppable Bishen Singh Bedi and the incisive Roebuck weren't here to draft a set of solutions, their individual and collective points of view on the ills plaguing the game were an excellent indicator of the way forward.

Peter Roebuck, Cricket Writer and Commentator

For Peter Roebuck India has changed, and become a little like Australia

Little else has threatened to destroy the spirit of cricket as the recently-concluded series between India and Australia. An aging world champion team against a bunch of challengers; you could almost celebrate Diwali with the amount of sparks that flew. As Gilchrist put it, "When cultures collide with great intent, sparks will fly. It was a hard-fought series, certainly, but it did cross the line. We have to learn from experience." Having said that, he also made a plea to both the cricket associations and the media to "not over regulate natural behaviour". "Verbal altercation has been around in cricket as long as the game has been going on, and there are no saints, including me," he smiled.

The controversies may have won eyeballs and TRPs this time, but it took just quality cricket to give India-Australia bilateral series stature in Australia. "Australian tours of India were not televised for the longest time. I remember grainy images of even the tied Test of 1986. By 2001, our tour of India became the highest-rated programme on television," said Gilchrist about the transition.

The increasingly popularity of the contest is primarily because of the greater competitiveness of the Indian cricket team which now marries skill with aggression.

But just as the timid attitude of the teams in the past was self-defeating, over-aggression has also proved to be the undoing of India in recent times. "In the name of giving it back, they are going out of hand," said Bedi. However, the unlikely example of a positive change has been S. Sreesanth, who both Gilchrist and Roebuck commended for his new avatar. "The change in Sreesanth from what we saw in India was massive, and reflected what he had learnt," said Gilchrist.

The message, really, was forget the boxing ring. The blows have been exchanged, they've earned each others respect, let this partnership flourish for the betterment of world cricket.

How good the Indian Premier League was going to be for world cricket was the other major issue discussed. Bedi referred to it as the cattle auction; Roebuck politely termed BCCI's Twenty20 tournament as the call of the marketplace.

Categorical in his disapproval, Bedi said: "BCCI is doing what it is best at, using OPI (other people's intelligence) and OPM (other people's money)." Terming Twenty20 as a jig, he was clear that it wasn't a format that had any benefits apart from overpaying under-deserving cricketers.

Gilchrist, one of the few deserving cricketers who will enjoy the financial benefits of IPL, didn't want to judge in a hurry. For instance, he believed it could be used in the development of the game in other parts of the world like China.

With the increasing financial gains for the players looking vulgar to the world, Gilchrist also sounded a word of caution. "Without the cricket, you're never going to get anywhere near the money." And for those parents in India who were concerned at the lack of real role models and sound value systems for their children, he asked them to look towards their own favourite son. "Among all the players that I've played against, I've never seen anyone who carries himself as well as Sachin. And he earns the most."

Gilchrist, not a paltry earner himself and one of the true gentlemen in the game, has not been a bad alternative either. And now that the on-field pyrotechnics are a thing of the past, with his mature vision and thoughts on world cricket, he may well prove to be a true spokesman for cricket.

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from the chairman

What India needs is political vision and a leadership that has nothing at stake except India.

Aroon Purie
Chairman & Editor-in-Chief
India Today Group

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(Conclave 2008)