With a title to defend, controversies surrounding Team India could not have been timed worse

Timing. A vital aspect of batting. A gift so many Indian cricketers have been born with. From Dilip Sardesai to Gundappa Vishwanath, from Sachin Tendulkar to Virat Kohli.

A word that seemingly has no meaning to those concerned with running the sport in country.

Until about a week back, Indian cricket was fine and dandy. After a fine home season, on and off the pitch, after another largely controversy-free edition of IPL, the Indian team was flying out to the British shores to defend their Champions Trophy title.

Fast forward a day before the first match of the tournament against Pakistan no less, one would not know where to begin, to describe the state of affairs of the cricket team right now.

The latest in the saga that has had more twists than what the writers of Games of Thrones manage to cram in a season, was historian Ramachandra Guha’s tell-all letter to the chairman of the Committee of Administrators, Vinod Rai. On Friday, he made public the details of why he quit the panel that was entrusted with running the game in the country.

It all began, like most good stories do, with a seemingly innocuous press release. BCCI said they were following due process, for the sake of transparency, by inviting applications for the position of head coach of Indian cricket. You know, the one held by Anil Kumble for almost a year, when he oversaw one of the best phases of sustained success in recent Indian cricket history. On the face of it, it seemed fairly normal. But those who have followed the sport long enough sensed something was off. Wouldn’t a contract extension be the easiest option? And on cue, “sources” started popping up left, right and center, detailing the possible reasons behind the ‘due process.’

Amid all this, one question remained obvious: Why now?

Surely the not-anymore-alleged rift between Kohli and Kumble was not a recent development that caught the BCCI by surprise, so much so that they had to put out the advertisement just a week before the Champions Trophy? The rift could not have developed over the last two months because the IPL was on and the team was not together. Did the transparency-loving administrators get so busy organising the IPL that they decided to wait till two days before the team left for the tournament to make this announcement?

It is tough to understand the pressing need invite applications by May 31 and conduct interviews in the middle of the biggest tournament for the Men in Blue this year, just for “due process.” After all, the BCCI does not have a reputation for being so prompt with their appointment of a coach. Remember when they took what seemed like an eternity to name a replacement for Duncan Fletcher?

This was a point that Guha did not fail to bring up in his stinging letter to the COA.

“In case due process had to be followed since Kumble’s original appointment was only for one year, why was this not done during April and May, when the IPL was on? If indeed the captain and the Head Coach were not getting along, why was this not attended to as soon as the Australia series was over in late March? Why was it left until the last minute, when a major international tournament was imminent, and when the uncertainty would undermine the morale and ability to focus of the coach, the captain and the team?”

Which brings us nicely to where we started. While there is very little evidence to question Guha’s intentions in bringing to light the administrative mess that the BCCI find themselves in, would it not have been better to wait till the end of the very tournament that he is worried India are not preparing well for? For someone who eloquently took on the circus surrounding the Indian cricket, it’s unfortunate that Guha also failed to realise his letter will have a similar impact on the team and it’s preparations as the issues he brought forth would. The letter, which deservedly caught the attention of everyone concerned with Indian cricket, would have had almost the same impact after the Champions Trophy, as it did two days before the team’s first match.

As is almost always the case, the power struggles and one-upmanship surrounding the game in this country has taken center-stage when the focus needs to be on the field, on winning matches, on lifting trophies. Most fans do care to an extent about how the game is run in the country, but they care considerably more about the team’s fortune within the cricket field than the events outside it.

For all we know, Kohli & Co might prove they are true professionals by returning with the trophy in their hands, but the men running the sport have made sure the circumstances could not have been more difficult for the team to achieve success. And ultimately, the self-fulfilling priorities of a few handful have taken precedence, pouring water over the excitement that only a world tournament can bring for the average fan.

At the end of the day, it’s all about the timing and over the past week, it’s been anything but ideal.