Two years ago, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar took over the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), saying he would now make it a professional sports organisation. Today, we know.

Indian cricket doesn’t have a national coach; the players are yet to sign their contracts that should have been firmed up nearly a year ago; their multi-crore TV deals are falling through; the National Cricket Academy’s chairman has just joined a breakaway cricket league; BCCI President Sharad Pawar, by his own admission in Parliament, devotes about two hours a week to the game. And — in case you forgot because of the facile walkover in Bangladesh — the team fails to make it past the first round of the World Cup.

Professionalism? The latest edition of the great Indian coach laughter challenge has given us the answer. Any semi-professional sports organisation, forget the ‘professional’ BCCI, would have sat down with Greg Chappell before the World Cup, worked out whether they want him to continue. And, if so, on what terms. Instead, Chappell sat in the dressing room as the team imploded in the Caribbean, was caught up in the team politics that swirled around him, not knowing what lay ahead, not knowing whether he would need to fly back to India at all.

Once here, he was asked to submit a report about India’s failure, told to tone it down to avoid another controversy, and asked to hang around for a final word. The reward: he was told that he would continue to be “associated with Indian cricket”. Then came Sachin Tendulkar’s public attack on Chappell’s style of functioning, and the BCCI’s coach hunt started all over again.

... contd.