Why can't we ever get something as simple as sale of tickets for an international cricket match right.
People are scenting the whiff of a scam in the distribution of tickets for the cricket World Cup currently on in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has accused its own president, Mr Sharad Pawar, of mismanaging the distribution of the tickets in his own country.
What makes the affairs of the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) all the more intriguing is that the co-hosts of the tournament — Bangaldesh and Sri Lanka — don't seem to have any such problems.
Clearly, the BCCI has put no thought on the crucial aspect of sale of tickets.
Slipping up
On Thursday, the police resorted to lathi charge in Bangalore to quell what they perceived as unruly behaviour of the fans who had lined up all night to buy tickets for the India-England cricket match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The blame for the incident squarely lies with the BCCI's state association, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), which is being run by the icons of cricket, Mr Anil Kumble and Mr Javagal Srinath.
What is more galling is that two KSCA officals were caught by the police selling tickets near the stadium and were in possession of wads of tickets. There are no explanations forthcoming on this incident from either Mr Kumble or Mr Srinath who, in fact, won their votes during the last year's elections to the Association on the basis of their claim that they would usher in transparency in the running of the administration.
If what a KSCA member said is to be believed, since they took over the administration, Mr Kumble and Mr Srinath have been found wanting in the discharge of their duties because they have no experience on administration matters.
This was a point made by the previous president of the KSCA, Mr Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar, who claimed that playing cricket and being an able administrator are two different things; and good intentions have to be backed by solid administrative experience, apart from willingness to learn on the job if someone has to run an office.
Sharing information
The ugly side of sponsorship issue rears its head every time such incidents come to light. The sole rights given to television channels for telecasting the matches is a case in point. To recover the money, channels air so many advertisements that the cricket match itself becomes a casualty. If the telecast rights had been distributed to top four or five bidders, such a situation would never have arisen.
For the cricket match in Bangalore, there were just about 8,000 tickets for sale to the public in a stadium consisting of 45,000 seats. Most of the tickets have gone to the sponsors and the ICC, and a few to government agencies and the association members.
KSCA did not think it was its responsibility to share this information with the public. Even if it erred in doing so, it could have easily avoided the mayhem, had it opened more counters around the stadium and looked after the needs of the thousands of fans on whose love and affection these cricketers built their careers.
One expected Mr Kumble, in spite of the ‘bungling' presence of Mr Pawar, to be more humane; this is what is expected out of him by his fans.
The least he could do to redeem himself and his Association in the eyes of his fans is to pick up the hospital bills of those who were severely injured in the unjustified police attack.