It is a troubled cricket world at the moment. While issues have engulfed the sport in the past, there haven’t been too many occasions when different cricketing countries have been faced different problems apart from some problems that are common across the board.
There is a big problem with the governing body itself. Never before has the ICC been tested so deeply by such a deluge and it is only fair to say that they have yet to take the bull by its horns. Or dare I say, bulls?
Sri Lanka’s recently-resigned captain Kumar Sangakkara has slammed his board and the entire administration in general for the manner in which the sport is run in the country.
His scathing comments come a couple of months after he had led his side to the World Cup final and had then resigned from the captaincy for reasons as frivolous as he was not young enough to be leading them in another World Cup. Only a few days ago, in a Spirit of Cricket Lecture at Lord’s, he claimed that his resignation came in the wake of the corruption that exists in the cricketing setup in the country.
The Sri Lankan cricket board is currently in a debt of almost $70 million and it does not seem likely that will be getting out of it any time soon.
The Pakistan cricket board have perennial issues and while the ICC’s Pakistan Task Team may have failed in their objective to get cricket back in the country, the 63 recommendations that they have provided to the cricket in the country can give an insight of how bad things have become in the country.
Spot-fixing was the bane in the previous year but administration-related issues refuse to go away. Players get fined by the board at will and the number of court cases against the PCB would be something of a record.
India have issues with showing responsibility with the kind of power that they yield in the cricketing world. Their view on the DRS and the vehement opposition to the system is just one case in point. For long, they have bullied and arm-twisted the other nations, something that can be seen from their refusal to send their cricketers for the Sri Lankan Premier League despite the Sri Lankan board having sent their cricketers for the IPL.
More cricketing nations are getting disgruntled by the BCCI’s behaviour and Michael Holding was particularly agitated when he said that too much power in one board’s hand was detrimental to the ICC’s functioning.