As cricket fans, we must ask for accountability

I’m not here to talk about selections, or the omissions. I am not here to talk about weight or fielding. I am certainly not here to talk about favouritism.

I’m not here to talk about coaches, either. Both WV Raman and Ramesh Powar have strong playing and coaching credentials ---including good results with the Indian women’s team--- that speak for themselves.

I’m not here to talk about anything leaked, alleged, or revealed. If you live by leaks, better be ready to sink.

I am at heart, a player. I am hardwired to examine processes, not results. So I’m here to talk about a few processes.

Let’s start with the most recent one, the process for selecting the coach of the Indian team, a team that will be playing a World Cup in 10 months. What do we really know about it? Precious little. The official communication from the Board tells us how many candidates there were, Powar’s record, and how the Cricket Advisory Committee was unanimous. But it tells us nothing about why one candidate was preferred over another, or how this selection fits into the larger vision for the Indian team, how it ties into the World Cup dream. And since there was no press conference, no one got a chance to ask.

Let’s look at another process. The process by which the Indian team is selected. We know there are five selectors, one from each zone, who pick the team. With every selection, there are plenty of questions, but no one to answer them. No MSK Prasadlike figure to share reasoning. Were players dropped or rested? Were the coach and captains consulted? We don’t know, and apparently, we don’t need to know. How about a third process? The one where annually contracted players are picked, which is supposed to happen -as the word annually suggestsevery year. Except women’s contracts for the period beginning

October 2020 onward have not been announced (the men’s contracts list came out in April). And when contracts are announced, precedent suggests there will not be any press conferences explaining decisions.

What do simple press conferences give us? The beginnings of transparency and accountability. And why should we push for these in women’s cricket, when we get so little in men’s cricket? I’ll tell you why. In 2013, when the final of a women’s World Cup was shifted to accommodate the final of a men’s domestic tournament, there were only a few grumbles about it. In 2016, when the Indian women’s team’s scores were being tweeted by the BCCI domestic social media handles, just a few murmurs.

Then the 2017 World Cup happened. Mithali Raj’s Twitter following went from around 2000 before the World Cup to the nearly 8 lakh it is now. Platforms dedicated to women’s cricket news mushroomed. The BCCI Women Twitter handle, which had less than 1000 followers in 2016, now has close to 4 lakh. Women’s cricket became mainstream. Women’s cricket suddenly has a lot of new fans, the key ingredient for the financial viability of a growing sport. And the fans are not yet jaded by the opaqueness they’ve come to expect in men’s cricket. We need to push for transparency and accountability NOW, because any growing sport needs to build fans, not shed them. The Indian women’s team is a subject of national interest. And there is a duty upon those who handle it to be accountable to this interest.

Individuals don’t win you World Cups. Coaches don’t. Players don’t. Systems do. Good processes do. We are happy to acknowledge the system that gave India’s men success in Australia. But when it comes to women’s cricket, we are distracted by the drama. When we focus on leaks, we miss the big picture: What this ship needs is structures. Here’s another thing I learned as a player: Control the controllables, and that’s also what I’m here to talk about. What can we do? Don’t wait for drip-fed information. Ask for transformation. Ask for press conferences for every team announcement, an under-16 national tournament, and a long term plan for a women’s IPL. Ask for stability of squads ---playing and support staff--and a long-term vision to make India the best team in the world.

If we fans want a better product, a better team, we have to ask for accountability and infrastructure first. Women’s cricket’s fan base is growing, but powerful. Don’t wait to be told things that matter little. Use your own voice to ask for the things that matter a lot.

Ramesh Powar (centre) was appointed the Indian women’s cricket team coach on Thursday.