United we stand

Faisal Shariff

"A player who is injured while playing for his national team deserves to be looked after by the Board."

It is a thought that I have heard, from various players, over time. And behind that thought lie words like security, regular pay packets, freedom from the fear of being rendered hors d'combat.

In other words, they are talking of a contract system.

For a long time now, it has been just talk. And it has been off record. And the Board of Control for Cricket in India has turned the proverbial deaf ear.

So what has changed? Simply this: the demand is now on record. And official. The players want contracts, and security, and are prepared to fight for it.

The contract system is just another form of ensuring security for the players. If we have such a system, then I am sure the players will feel more relieved, easier in their minds. He will know that even if something goes wrong, he and his family will be looked after, so he won't be as scared to take chances when playing."

That is Sachin Tendulkar, talking to rediff.com, on record.

And that is a first -- the first time a senior player is going on record, to say something they have all been whispering about in the dressing room till date.

Why are you here, talking to me?" Sachin asked, rhetorically. "It is because it is your job and you are doing your job to look after yourself and your family. If today you are injured, I am sure the company has some provision to ensure that you don't starve. You probably have an ambition to write well, like I have an ambition to score runs and win matches. We all have our own ambitions, but deep down, the reason we do the work we do is for security for ourselves and our family. And that is why it is important for the players to feel that sense of security."

Sachin is not alone. Earlier this year, I was chatting with Anil Kumble, when the question popped up. Anil gestured to his right arm, then swathed in a sling, and said, If I tell you that you will be working on a story-to-story basis, how would you feel? If you knew that you would be paid only for the stories you write and get published, and that if you for some reason couldn't work tomorrow and therefore wouldn't get paid, how would that feel? I agree that cricketers are doing a job, that our job is to play well, to entertain the fans. But does that mean we do not deserve to feel secure? Suppose I tell you, tomorrow, that you have been picked to cover the first Test of the series, and that I will tell you only later if you are picked to cover the second and third Tests, how would you feel, not knowing whether you would have a job or no?

"That is the situation we find ourselves in," Kumble says. And he adds, to telling effect: "Suppose, at the end of the third day of the first Test, I tell you that your work is not satisfactory and you will not be covering the rest of the series, will your articles on days four and five be as good, will you feel like giving of your best?"

Point made, and taken -- this, too, is about security.

Kumble, you realise as you hear him talk, will make a good advocate for the team. He is reasonable, yet forceful, without needing to raise his voice to make his telling points.

I think," he argues, "that it is very important to have a contract system, because it gives you a lot of security. It tells the player what he will earn that year, how much he will earn each month, and that ensures that he doesn't waste his time worrying whether he will be picked for the next game, or whether an injury will see him out of action.

"I think we all need the feeling of security. Take my case -- when playing, I have done my best for the country. And then I got injured, and now I am out. I don't get paid, I don't get any compensation. How do you think it feels? When a player in this position starts playing again, it is natural that he will be focussed on avoiding injury, more than on doing his very best. And that is why the sense of security is so very important for us."

Another eloquent member of the team is Rahul Dravid, and he like Sachin and Anil is all for a contract system to be implemented at the earliest. However, Rahul warns that there is no point in blindly aping the Australian or English models. A detailed study is needed, he says, to ensure that the system put in place will be compatible with Indian conditions.

Besides India and Pakistan, every other Test-playing nation in the world has a contract system. Even Bangladesh has a contract system for its players," Dravid points out. "We are lucky in that we have readymade models, like those of England and Australia, to study. What we need to do is study those in detail, and that has to include a study of the players as well, to make sure the system works for us."

But is this just another way for the seniors to ensure that they are well looked after? For them to feather their own nests?

No, argues Rahul, pointing out that the senior players are in any case well off financially. "This will really benefit the fringe players more than the seniors," he argues. "It will give the fringe players the security they need, it will help them take their minds off financial worries. He won't have to worry about where the money for his next electricity bill will come from -- he can, instead, concentrate on his cricket, just as you concentrate on your work knowing that at the end of the month, a pay packet will come along and take care of your needs."

Kumble has another slant on it. "If you have a bank of contracted players, then the team can decide how to use them, depending on need. For instance, there might be a time when a senior player has a slight injury problem. If the team decides, then that player can skip a game and rest his injury, rather than run the risk of playing and aggravating it. If he is on contract, he will be comfortable with the thought of skipping a game, but if he is not, then he will tend to hide his injury and play on -- and the long term consequences of that will be felt by the team."

Kumble knows what he is talking about, here -- an injury aggravated by playing on because the team needed him, has landed him in a situation where he is now off through injury, with an uncertain future. And of course, the BCCI has thus far shown no signs of paying his medical bills.

Meanwhile, the Board -- or sections of the board, to be more accurate -- is also changing. Former president Raj Singh Dungarpur, for instance, admits that while he was against the contract system initially, he is learning to change his opinion.

I have changed, yes," Dungarpur tells me. "Earlier I was the first person to oppose the contract system. But life is about being progressive, not dogmatic. I understand the need for it, now, and I will be taking up the matter with the board and insisting that the contract system be implemented."

That is one school of thought, and it needs mentioning that when Dungarpur openly states a view, it signifies that board president Dr A C Muthiah also feels the same. There is, however, an opposing faction -- which is dead set against the idea of a contract system.

One of the most vocal members of this faction is BCCI vice-president Kamal Morarka, who argues that such a system will not work in India. "India has a large pool of players to chose from, a contractual exercise can only end in chaos and heartburn," he argues.

One problem, says Morarka, is for a player to become a contracted employee of the board, he will have to quit the job he now holds -- remember that all our national players are employed by one company or the other. "No player will agree to do that," Morarka argues. "Besides, what happens if a player loses form?"

These words signal the battle in the offing -- the players, versus the faction within the board that is violently opposed to contracts.

Morarka's arguments sound genuine, but Dravid is quick to counter. "As per existing laws, if I enter into a one year contract with the board, I do not need to quit my job. And further, we do not need a contract that makes us board employees -- one that pays us for services rendered is just as good. O bviously, we will be taxed on this, but that is fine with us, not a problem."

The objections raised by the anti-contract faction is in fact rooted in a real fear -- that the board will lose the control it now has on the players. The contract system doesn't make the BCCI any weaker," Dravid points out by way of counter. "In fact, they will have more control over the players. They can control whether a player plays county cricket, they can force us to play domestic tournaments."

It is obvious that the issue is hotting up. The flashpoint will be reached once the senior players band together and demand that the board implements such a system -- and the signals we get are that the players are ready to do just that.

It is important that we (the team) get together and decide on it," says Sachin Tendulkar. "The board is, I understand, thinking of having a contract system in place, I am sure something will come of it soon."

"It has to happen, sooner than later," argues Kumble. "I don't want to see anyone else in the position I find myself in today. Srinath missed out four years ago. Now I am missing out. I hope in the future, at least, no one else does."

At another level, this is leading up to an interesting situation. Till date, the reason the players have not been able to get what is due to them has been a lack of unity. If Kumble is injured that is his problem, has pretty much summed up the mood. Oh sure, there is sympathy among his fellow players -- but not to the extent that the team is prepared to get together, and get something done to remedy it.

The one big result of the recent series against Australia has been to change this way of thinking. Now, unity is the buzzword within the team, the players are prepared to come together, to fight together, both on the field and, as in this instance, off it.

As for the contract system, Rahul Dravid has the last word on the subject.

It is the way ahead," says he. "The only way.

IIlustration: Uttam Ghosh

Earlier Reports
Terms of endearment - Faisal Shariff
Player contracts - Reader's opinion
Money Tree - Prem Panicker.
Of the players, by the players... - Faisal Shariff
A question of answers -- Prem Panicker

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