Roger Binny, the former Indian swing bowler, has taken over from Saurav Ganguly as the BCCI President. Whether his appointment is right or wrong, only time can tell. However, I am pleased that for the second consecutive time, a cricketer has been appointed as the board president. It is time the board is run by cricketers and not administrators though administrators can help the cricketers in the smooth functioning of the board. Ultimately, they must all report to a cricketer. If that cricketer is of repute, all the more good. Let me analyse Roger Binny the new BCCI president.
Binny played the game when the game wasn’t commercially successful as compared to now. The payment for the players were quite less. They seldom stayed in top hotels and travelled in first class on the plane all the time. Binny and his compatriots played the game because of their passion to represent India at the highest level. Even the BCCI during his career wasn’t this rich. They hardly had money to pay the salaries.
Times have changed and now, BCCI is the board that is running this cricketing world. Everyone dare not say a word against BCCI. A tour by the Indian team will help the host nation to settle their dues. Such is the power of the BCCI though it is brought about by us the fanatics on this beautiful land. For someone who has played the game in that era, this will be a massive challenge.
At 67, Binny is eligible for one term of 3 years as president, keeping in mind the age cap of 70 meant for administrators and office bearers in the BCCI constitution. Binny moved into coaching, served as a national selector, and also as Karnataka State Cricket Association administrator before becoming the BCCI chief.
Binny did not influence his son’s selection
To Binny’s credit, during the time when he was a selector, his son, Stuart Binny was thought of as a potential all-rounder for the Indian team. Whenever his name came up, Binny will recuse himself so that his presence does not influence his son’s selection. Selectors at time were all praise for Binny because he did not make things awkward for them in the selection meetings.
Binny has also had a successful stint as the vice-president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association back in 2010. His management skills is quite underrated in the sense that he was one of the key mediator between 2 different factions at a time when the KSCA was split between two rival cabals. One led by Brijesh Patel and the other by Kumble.
Binny’s first optimistic comment
Binny says that he wants to get to the bottom of the reason players are getting injured quite frequently. It is a noble thought. One that must be addressed in all its seriousness. Indian players are getting injured way too quickly and it affects the team composition.
“We will look to improve on what we can do to reduce the injuries to players,” Binny said in an informal chat with members of the media. “Players getting frequently injured is a concern, and we wish to get to the bottom of it all and see how it can be changed for the better.
Even for the ongoing T20 World Cup, India do not have the services of two of their most influential players. Bumrah and Jadeja. Both of them are out of the series and possibly for a longer time because of injuries. Rohit Sharma is often injured and so is Bhuvneswar Kumar. Injury management must be made top priority. It is good that India do have the reserves who can replace these players but are they of top quality is somewhat doubtful. It is important to have the best players play in tournaments and Test matches.
Pitches with bounce and carry
Another important point that Binny stressed is that need to improve the quality of the pitches throughout the country. This must be the case at the Ranji level. It sure will improve the quality of cricket that the team can play in challenging conditions. The problem is that almost every board president talks about improving the pitches but no one has done anything about it. What are the chances of Binny changing this? I think it is less than 10%.
Back in his days, the Indian board did not have the money to alter the pitches. Now that they have, it is very much possible. Ofcourse, not every ground will be possible because of the soil and other things but a substantial number of grounds can be changed.
If Binny can walk the talk, Indian cricket will be indebted to him forever. Will be able to or more precisely, will he be allowed to?
Improving the experience of the spectators
I do not have any hope of that happening. It could be Binny or Ganguly or Dalmiya, the spectators will have to undergo a torrid time in the stadiums across the country. This will be the norm forever.
Wrapping up Roger Binny the new BCCI president
Binny has had good exposure in administration. As vice-president of KSCA and as a national selector. Good things are expected from a person who played in an era purely for the love of the sport. Will he be able to turn things around? After, Ganguly’s disappointing tenure, I better do not get my hopes raised.