But the issue with the captaincy is deeper than merely giving a man a title. India’s captain is often out on a limb, alone, and having to fight elements in the administration to take an inch forward. Rahul Dravid spoke of the pressures that come with it and nobody had five minutes to read and understand why he was saying it. Now Tendulkar has said no, and that has merely given some in the media another opportunity to package fiction as news. Meanwhile, I haven’t heard anything about the BCCI holding a meeting to find out why people are not enamoured of their top jobs!

The BCCI should be up on its toes, worried and galvanised for their image is taking another battering. That Tendulkar was asked and declined should have been an internal matter but information in Indian cricket is as guarded as water in a shower is. Every day selectors and other “insiders” tell the media what is happening. It requires five phone calls, one to each selector, to find out who is leaking what. Thereafter it requires one letter to say their services are no longer needed. But Indian cricket has a strange relationship with the media. People complain about it one moment and provide it with fodder the next.

And so, the media has a field day, speculating with no restraint, rushing to the studio, or into print, with the speed and desperation of someone having a bad stomach. The media must analyse, the media must inform but the media must, at all times, be truthful. It is not a burden but a wonderful responsibility to carry. But there is an epidemic around town and its virus is feasting on truth. The captains won’t tell you that but having motives assigned to you that you didn’t know of can tire and disillusion people; scrutiny is not bad but fiction is.

... contd.