Can't blame wives for Team India's losses': Ayaz Memon

Q/ The BCCI has gone into headmaster mode with its new guidelines for Indian players. From now on, the players are not allowed to travel separately, the families can be around for only two weeks on longer tours and the players have to be available for domestic cricket because that will be factored into national selection. Now, all this is being done apparently to “promote unity, discipline and to create a positive team environment”. What are your initial thoughts?

A/ It looks like Moses has come down with the 10 commandments, you know? Some of it was obviously necessary and it's a no-brainer. For instance, to play domestic cricket is something that should have never been forsaken. Why have you excused players for so many years? People like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, even Jasprit Bumrah, have not played domestic cricket for years. So that awakening is timely, it’s good.

ALSO READ: Crackdown on 'star culture': Salary cut, IPL bar... BCCI backs coach Gautam Gambhir's 10-point diktat

But some of the other things I find quite regressive. Like passing the buck to the wives and girlfriends by saying that because they were present throughout the tour the results have not been as good as they would have liked. Would you say that India reached the WTC finals twice because the wives were there, or despite the wives being there? Or winning the T20 World Cup? The wives were there, too. And I don't know how much of the guidelines will be really enforced, but it is like a curate’s egg; it's good and bad in parts.

Q/ Especially with the family bit, I don't know how having your loved ones around affects your game. Do you think at least with some of these guidelines, the players are being treated like children?

A/ The overarching feeling seems to be: ‘Now let us tell you what needs to be done’. As the apex sports body, you don't need to wake up after a calamity to enforce such things, some of which are no-brainers, like playing domestic cricket. Like travelling in the same team bus. Why does this have to be enforced? Shouldn't it have just been conveyed from the team management that, ‘Look, guys, everybody has to travel together’. You don't need guidelines for that. If somebody was breaking the protocol, then that person should have been singled out and told that it can’t happen.

Earlier, the big stars were being handled with kid gloves and now it seems that they are cracking down; it’s like taking them back to kindergarten and saying this is how cricket needs to be played. There is obviously pressure on the players as well as on the board to take some action. What action the players actually take for themselves will really be reflected in how they perform in the matches leading up to the next Test series or the Champions Trophy. But the BCCI should not be responding in fits and starts. If you win a World Cup, the celebrations go on for six months, but if you lose a series, then suddenly everybody is cracking the whip.

One other issue these guidelines do not address is the accountability. Is there any is there any measure of accountability? Of the players, yes; and also the support staff, the coach et cetera. But what about issues like what happened with Ashwin? Why did he have to quit the series midway? Is there a fact-finding [committee or] action put in place? In the old days, I remember that after the tour, the team would come back and the captain and the manager would submit a confidential report to the BCCI saying, ‘These are the things that happened. This is what went right. This is what went wrong. These are our suggestions.’ Is something like that being practised or has that been completely discarded? Now it’s like waking up when there is a problem but otherwise putting a blanket over your head and going to sleep.

Q/ There could be an over-correction, in a sense. What happens if India win the Champions Trophy? Is everything forgotten then? Is everyone just celebrating? Given all this, do you foresee some players, especially the seniors, breaching these guidelines, especially the part about being available for domestic cricket throughout the calendar? I mean, do we really expect Jasprit Bumrah to play more cricket?

A/ It depends on how we Jasprit Bumrah, who is now our most valuable commodity. He is a cult figure. The only rival he has is Pat Cummins, because he is so influential as a captain. Bumrah’s workload is a priority. How are they going to address it? Obviously, they have to take the bowler, his support staff, his medical staff and medical opinion into account. Remember, in the series against New Zealand, Bumrah didn't play the third Test. So, he is also measuring out hi workload himself. Is that going to be entertained or is it going to be done only by the BCCI? Will they work in tandem? Is there a brain trust to look at these issues? Bumrah is the obvious example, but there could be other players going ahead. So, I think a lot of loose strands still exist. The fact that there have been guidelines issued suggest that the BCCI is taking cognisance of a major setback and saying, ‘let's find out ways to address this now’. These are not hard rules that have been put in place; these are guidelines that have been discussed. For instance, playing domestic cricket. There’s nothing that had been said about not playing domestic cricket. It happened because the BCCI was turning a blind eye to it for so many years. If they want to [enforce it], they should make it a matter of policy. Put it down in black and white that a cricketer has to play X number of matches in domestic cricket every year irrespective of their international engagements. Or the wives and girlfriends topic. The Australian cricket team had their wives and girlfriends all over the cricket grounds in Australia. They were there in England for the World Test Championship win. To attribute the setbacks to wives and girlfriends is delusional. These are not major issues. It could be a small factor, but not a major factor. I don't think it is really worthy of a guideline. Also, I want to add that there are two sets of pursuits that India need to think about. One is the white-ball cricket, which is the Champions Trophy and then the T20 World Cup and so on. And then their is Test cricket. After the inauguration of the WTC, this is the first time India is not making the final. The selection policies and guidelines might differ from white-ball to red-ball cricket. I hope cognisance is taken of that. The failure of Rohit and Virat, for instance. Will they be judged on their Champions Trophy performance or on their Test outings? These are issues that need to be addressed.