Few days back in the Tony Greig show on cricinfo I read that he had blamed India for the freelance concept in cricket.
It was quite amusing for me to find India being blamed for this concept. He conviniently forgot that he was one of those who began the exodus to the Packer circus in 70s and then was the board member in the ICL which began in 2007 and which gave rise to the "lucrative" options available to modern day cricketers today.
Andrew Flintoff rejected ECB's central contract to be able to play in T20 tournaments world wide. For all the injuries and form concerns aside, he along with his friend KP remains IPL's highest paid cricketers. And its ironical that the concerns on the freelance concept getting popular come from this 2 cricketers.
KP was quoted to have said that the English setup needs a change as players may find the county cricket a bit too exuastive.
The bottom line is that the English cricket season coincides with the start of IPL every year.
English cricket writers and admins easily forget that they began the T20 concept in 2003 and now they are the ones who are suddenly bothered about the life of Test cricket. Perhaps their vision is limited to the Ashes and perhaps for them life begins at the Ashes and ends at Ashes.
Its their own players now who have concerns over their own schedule and the domestic setup. Its very easy for them to go blame BCCI for all the ills in the cricket, but they forget one thing no big player from BCCI's custody has slipped to go play in ICL or has embraced the concept of freelance cricket.
Its very easy for everybody in the world to blame BCCI for the ills in the world. Be it in the sports minister in India who suggests BCCI to accept WADA proposals or the lesser sportsmen in the country who at many times are benefitted by the grant provided by the BCCI for their expenses. Be it the ex-players who jump the gun to ICL and when the shop is closed they come back asking for favors.
Likes of PCB, Arjuna Ranatunga, Tony Greig, WICB blame BCCI for the ills in their own countries respectively. But little do they forget that the ICC is being funded by the star players and the money from India.
Before pointing out a finger to India for every ill, the respective board or individual should review their own position in the context and then point a finger to anybody else. That is take responsibility for your own actions.
BCCI is no saint, but its certainly not the evil its made out to be. After all it has shown the world that in a country like ours where everything is a creamy job for politicians, the game can still rule the headlines 9 out of 10 times for its performance on the field and has given the country some real valued sportsmen who have kept performing despite every road block and stumbling blocks.
But are we ready to accept this achievement of BCCI or is it going to be always eggs and pichkaris thrown at BCCI's face...
It was quite amusing for me to find India being blamed for this concept. He conviniently forgot that he was one of those who began the exodus to the Packer circus in 70s and then was the board member in the ICL which began in 2007 and which gave rise to the "lucrative" options available to modern day cricketers today.
Andrew Flintoff rejected ECB's central contract to be able to play in T20 tournaments world wide. For all the injuries and form concerns aside, he along with his friend KP remains IPL's highest paid cricketers. And its ironical that the concerns on the freelance concept getting popular come from this 2 cricketers.
KP was quoted to have said that the English setup needs a change as players may find the county cricket a bit too exuastive.
The bottom line is that the English cricket season coincides with the start of IPL every year.
English cricket writers and admins easily forget that they began the T20 concept in 2003 and now they are the ones who are suddenly bothered about the life of Test cricket. Perhaps their vision is limited to the Ashes and perhaps for them life begins at the Ashes and ends at Ashes.
Its their own players now who have concerns over their own schedule and the domestic setup. Its very easy for them to go blame BCCI for all the ills in the cricket, but they forget one thing no big player from BCCI's custody has slipped to go play in ICL or has embraced the concept of freelance cricket.
Its very easy for everybody in the world to blame BCCI for the ills in the world. Be it in the sports minister in India who suggests BCCI to accept WADA proposals or the lesser sportsmen in the country who at many times are benefitted by the grant provided by the BCCI for their expenses. Be it the ex-players who jump the gun to ICL and when the shop is closed they come back asking for favors.
Likes of PCB, Arjuna Ranatunga, Tony Greig, WICB blame BCCI for the ills in their own countries respectively. But little do they forget that the ICC is being funded by the star players and the money from India.
Before pointing out a finger to India for every ill, the respective board or individual should review their own position in the context and then point a finger to anybody else. That is take responsibility for your own actions.
BCCI is no saint, but its certainly not the evil its made out to be. After all it has shown the world that in a country like ours where everything is a creamy job for politicians, the game can still rule the headlines 9 out of 10 times for its performance on the field and has given the country some real valued sportsmen who have kept performing despite every road block and stumbling blocks.
But are we ready to accept this achievement of BCCI or is it going to be always eggs and pichkaris thrown at BCCI's face...
