Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said on Friday that the BCCI's 10-point policy for centrally contracted players has been in place since his playing days, and he wanted to know when it was "altered" and by whom.
Harbhajan described the instructions as "fresh documentation" and claimed that the action diverts attention away from the team's forgettable on-field performance against New Zealand and Australia.
Days after the 1-3 defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the BCCI issued a 10-point diktat to promote "discipline and unity," including making domestic cricket mandatory, limiting the presence of families and personal staff on tours, and prohibiting individual commercial endorsements during series.
“Let me first put this on record. When I was reading the travel policy document reported by the media, I hardly found anything new from the last time I represented India as a centrally contracted cricketer.
At least nine out of 10 points, including duration of family visits, staying in the same hotel, and practice timings, are all the same. My question is if these rules were in place during my time, who all have altered it and when? That should be probed," Harbhajan Singh told PTI.
A similar claim was made by Harbhajan's former India colleague, Irfan Pathan. For Harbhajan, the timing of giving these recommendations is absolutely not amusing, as he believes the conversation should have focused solely on cricket.
“Hum log mudde se bhatak rahein hain (We are deviating from the main issue). We didn’t lose 1-3 because the wives and partners were there for two months. We didn’t lose because someone traveled separately. We lost because we have played very poor cricket at times. We didn’t bat well even at home. We have players who are horribly out of form. What are the course corrections being made? Or is it just these off-the-field things being discussed?" he questioned.
Harbhajan Singh recalled his playing days and said that he didn’t see Tendulkar, Kumble, or Dravid leave the team if the match ended early or travel separately from the team.
“I think some of the points needed to be revisited because they were being flouted. Like in our times, I never saw Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, or Anil Kumble leave for Mumbai, Kolkata, or Bengaluru just because the match has ended in three days and the next game is a week away.
They all stayed and traveled to the next destination. The only change I see (in the new rulebook) is the 150 kg suitcase allowance. Back in the day, we used to have less. Why would you need to tell players that you have to travel by team bus? That’s a given. If someone was breaking the rule, that person needs to be probed,” Harbhajan stated.
Despite agreeing with all the points of the policy, Harbhajan felt that the BCCI could have a couple of quality chefs traveling with the team.
“BCCI has deep pockets. Why do you need to carry personal chefs? In the soccer World Cup, big teams carry their own chef, who takes care of the dietary requirements of players. Have a couple of team chefs. It is not a big deal," he added.
According to Harbhajan, the sole new provision in the policy paper is that players must obtain prior consent from head coach Gautam Gambhir on specific things, which the former spinner disagreed with.
“In our times, it used to be written that prior approval of BCCI was needed on certain matters. So, for approvals, drop a mail to BCCI and ask for permission. Why does the head coach need to get into all this? That is not his job. His job is on the field and in the technical aspects where we are lacking. The administrative part should be left with competent people in the BCCI," he said.
(PTI inputs)
