Infighting, flawed selections costing MCA dear

With cricket being the most popular sport in India, the BCCI conducts over 800 matches at the junior and senior levels. The state associations have been urged to set up academies to fine-tune the talent. Not many associations though have heeded to the advice of the parent body, but the Mumbai Cricket Association set up a state of the art academy five years ago.It was expected to churn out quality young players, but it has failed to do so.
Ravi Savant, vice president of the MCA says, "We wanted state and academy coaches to interact with each other. That hasn't been happening for the past year. There are massive ego problems between them, and that has certainly affected the growth of the talented players. I feel this has reflected in the dismal performance of junior teams this season.
The MCA has been spending Rs. 60 to 70 lakh per annum for the past five years, which includes salaries of coaches, staff and electricity. And yet, despite the finance and infrastructure we have provided, the infighting
and lack of co-ordination among the coaches throughout these five years has ensured that we haven't achieved anything of note."
The academy structure has been faulty from its inception. The director is an administrative post, but here in the MCA academy, the director is expected to act as a chief coach. Each state coach has been asked to take care of 30-odd probables, which is not possible as the fault-identification and rectification process for each player is a tedious job. Additionally, the coaching course certificate is given preference over the actual skills and experience of a coach, with a club bowler who has a Level B coaching certificate being appointed a batting coach in a city like Mumbai, which has produced top quality batsmen. None of them were invited to interact with the boys.
Appointment of inexperienced selectors and state coaches, many of whom haven't played for Mumbai, is perhaps the major reason Mumbai junior teams did badly this year. Why was the chairman of the Under-16 team, which won the Vijay Merchant trophy last season, replaced this season with a cricketer who never played for Mumbai?
The new set of Under-19 selectors didn't pick the top performers of Under-16 for Under-19. This explains the poor show of the Under-19 Mumbai team which lost by an innings to MP, lost by 310 runs to Baroda and was asked to follow on by Tamil Nadu? And this was despite three India players being part of the Mumbai Under-19 team in all three matches! Isn't it an embarrassment that Mumbai Under-19 has been relegated to the Plate division?
The senior Ranji Trophy team selectors and coach were removed for the team's poor performance in the season and will be replaced by new selectors and coach.
Will the Under-19 selectors and the coach be dealt with severely too?
Dr PV Shetty, Hon. Jt. Secretary of MCA says, "After the election, we have appointed a new committee of academy, with Vinod Deshpande as the chairman. We will meet shortly and certainly act. There are some contentious issues, and we will address those. We will appoint a chief coach."
There are serious allegations against Dr Shetty himself for accommodating his players in the junior selection committees. He says, "If the technical committee chaired by Chandrakant Pandit recommended the names for the selection committees, coaches and was ratified by the managing committee, why should I be blamed."
Another issue is of conflict of interest. Ideally, members of the managing committee or technical committee can't be appointing themselves as coaches. Previously, eminent cricketers had to quit as selectors after being appointed as managing committee members.
While the Mumbai Cricket Association has provided generously in funding and infrastructure for the teams and players, flawed selections and infighting ensure that those resources are wasted. These flaws need to be rectified so that the teams can be handled better and can emerge from the doldrums.