All quiet on Indian front

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

BARELY a peep was heard in Mumbai on Wednesday when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed SA would tour India from late September until the end of November.

But when Cricket SA (CSA) announced unilaterally - according to the BCCI - the fixtures for India’s tour in December, 2013, the world ended.

The Indians threw seven of the mooted 12 matches out of the cot and with them more than R300-million in revenue that CSA would have expected to earn from the tour.

CSA also probably lost whatever hopes they might have entertained of gaining entrance to the big boys’ club that has since restricted its membership to the boards of India, England and Australia.

SA’s tour is scheduled to comprise four tests, five one-day internationals and three T20s, which is one more T20 than the future tours programme (FTP) lists. But no dates or venues have been specified and so the parallel with India’s 2013 visit is imperfect.

Not that the contrast in the reaction to the announcements will be lost on cricket followers who have become accustomed to India, by far the game’s biggest generator of income, getting what they want.

SA’s visit has long been on the calendar. However, the BCCI’s tendency to ignore the FTP when their team have something more profitable to do raised the importance of Wednesday’s news.

For instance, here’s what BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur was reported as saying on Wednesday about India’s upcoming engagement against Pakistan: “We are supposed to play a series in December as per the FTP but we are still at the discussion stage. There are many things to be decided. Once it’s all decided we will let you know.”

The FTP timed the tour to start in October, and the earlier start only adds to the evidence that the Champions League T20 - which was played from September 13 to October 4 last year - will be scrapped.