Critics Corner » Blog Archive » ICL and the Quota System

ICL and the Quota System

Posted by kesavan on August 17th, 2007

It was a 177 as captain of the Indian Under 19s in a one dayer against the English Colts in the aftermath of our Natwest triumph in 2002 that brought Ambati Rayudu to national prominence. He had become so popular that everyone on stage (except the quiz masters) could recognize his picture in a cricket quiz held in Anna University a few months later. After being touted as the next Sachin, Azharuddin, Laxman, etc, and a pretty good first season, suddenly he lost his way and dropped out of the limelight. There was a shift to the Andhra Ranji team a couple of seasons back and then a comeback to the Hyderabad Ranji team last season along the way. But it did seem like he would end up being just another Ranji player, he was going nowhere. All this and he is still just 21 years old.

Now he is back in the news as the first current player to sign for Zee’s Indian Cricket League in defiance of a probable ban that might be imposed on him. And supposedly he is not alone. He is joined by the cream of the Hyderabad team, the elegant left handed number 3 Anirudh Singh, the dependable D Vinay Kumar and the keeper Ibrahim Khaleel. TOI has clearly attributed the reason for this “defection” to the monetary benefits that the new league would offer. Ofcourse money is a major motivation, but I believe that there is another equally important reason as to why it was a group of Hyderabadis who were the first to join the ICL. Something that I (and some friends) term the quota system.

The quota here refers to the selection of sons of ex-cricketers in the teams that matter at the cost of other arguably more talented players. The ex-cricketer and son that I am referring to are Shivlal Yadav and his son Arjun Yadav. In the last season, Arjun Yadav hadn’t done anything of note and yet was rewarded with a place in the India A team. He also finds a place in all the South Zone teams. There cannot be any other reason for such a mediocre achiever to go places other than the power his dad wields with the Hyderabad Cricket Association. And incidentally, Shivlal Yadav’s previous claim to fame was the selection of Noel (who?) David.

Given that one guy who has performed as well or as badly as the others is preferred shows that it is not meritocracy at work. And as a result the entire middle order except Arjun has decided to quit putting their entire careers at risk. Or probably there was no chance they could have a decent career.

It also seems to me like Arjun Yadav was also responsible for Ambati Rayudu’s sudden and unexpected shift to Andhra. And there is some colourful history also between the two where Arjun Yadav ran behind Ambati Rayudu with a stump in hand at Anantapur two seasons back due to allegations that Yadav was a quota candidate. And it could very well have been pressures such as these that have had a big role to play in Rayudu’s decline.

ICL has hit the Indian cricket administration at the right weak point, the quota system. something that is obvious to even a casual follower of domestic Indian cricket. There must be other such affected and disgruntled cricketers. And there is no reason why someone who is kept out by say an Udit Patel or an Anirudh Srikkanth will not join the ICL. ICL has found quite a fertile ground to target. Good strategy and I seriously hope this will pay off.

See the complete roster of players here- ICL Player list

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 17th, 2007 at 7:25 am and is filed under Cricket, Indian Cricket. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

18 Responses to “ICL and the Quota System”

Z Says:
August 18th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
I think I was there at that quiz! I remember a quiz at Anna University when I answered AMbati Rayudu and the quiz master kept insisting that I was wrong cause the answer was Tirupati Rayudu! Even after every team pointing out that Tirupati was his middle name.
Z Says:
August 18th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Great post btw. I think the ICL is slowly gaining momentum, but I am not sure how much of viewership it will get. but promises to be interesting!
Kesavan Says:
August 19th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
@Z

It does not matter if the ICL is a failure, if it just forces the BCCI to change, it would do a great service to Indian cricket.

And it is the same quiz. A pretty strong one it was.
R.Rajesh Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 1:54 am
There was also a guy called Madhukar who went to Pakistan with the A team as a batting allrounder despite averaging 19 with the bat and 48 with the ball. This was at the expense of S Ramesh, Badani, Mazumdar, Chopra et al who had all scored at least triple the runs against better attacks. Thats the way things run in AP and Hyderabad, and its little wonder these players have been amomng the first to shift.
Ayush T Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 2:12 am
Exactly.. the best thing about the ICL is that it’ll send a few rockets up the BCCI, if it hasn’t done so already. I feel this is a similar battle to the one rugby league had, between the ARL and Rupert Murdoch’s Super League, where both parties eventually amalgamated after Murdoch had literally scooped the cream off the ARL’s stale competition.
rodolph Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 2:30 am
I guess Mr.Pawar should appoint the ex-cricketers at the helm of the affairs to run the show like the Australian systems of CEO. This ways atleast he could send a message. Also he alongwith all current admnistrator associated with politics should resign and appoint somebody from the cricketing fraternity to run the show to counter ICL
Mani Raamesh Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 2:41 am
It is a regret that such hype s and myth happens in BCCI.
Ambathi Rayudu,is name in Cricket game since 2002.
He was termed not only class batsman but a sensible person to have good knowledge of the game.I had been to Hyderbad in 2005,2006 were few of my friends,who also play league and division games in cricket, were of the opinion that Rayudu will catch the flight to West Indies.Trust me BCCI is gaint and when Gaint Elephants are in Sleep its fun to distrub and make them mad of there Racism and partial behaviour which few people do and spoil the whole pond. Well done ICl.
nitin Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 2:55 am
Man, you are so right. I know a cricketer from UP who was an excellent player in his prime time but got nowhere because of internal polictics at BCCI. Now he is a frustated clirk at local governemnt office. Had ICL been there, he would have lived his dream and did his service to the nation by doing what he can do best that is by playing cricket.
vijaykumar Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 3:09 am
The only problem with ICL is the presence of Kiran More…… He is so famous (or in famous ) for not even considering SAURAV. So such sort of person ..what he is going to do is a moot question. More..along with Chappel has started this favouritism and discrimination. Since Chappel was ousted and sent back home…Hope ICL and BCCI both may not resort taht sort of idiotic selections But apart from him everyone in ICL appears to be OK.
Pravin Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 3:14 am
Everything about the article seems to be right, except for the title which is definitely not right. The quota systems may not be the right word to be used by people who themselves have been following this for thousands of years. Taking the liberty of digressing a bit from the main topic, I would like to make the following statements:
1] The quota system has existed in India even before the so-called reservation based quota system in education has actually made the term ” quota ” so famous.
2] The children of ” so-called upper castes” getting the only right to education, and thus forcing and developing wittingly or unwittingly a lack of self-esteem (which results due to a proper education in a person), amongst generations and generations of the underprivileged, the final outcome of which is that even now these “so-called upper castes” will marry amongst themselves and in numerous parts of the country a very much prevalent and dominating caste system torturing a number of ” so-called low caste ” people exists.
3] So, if it has now come to the fore that there exists a quota system in the BCCI,
and assuming that it has been there since a long way back say 10-15 years, then are the good cricketers today who in some way or the other had found favour during selections only a result of this system ? Does this mean that the selection of non-Hindus is a part of this quota system as in a minority quota. So does this mean that Zaheer, Irfan, Munaf shouldn’t be part of the team.
4] Most of the cricketers in the Indian team come from the “upper castes”. Why has this happened. Or is it that the selectors think that those who fall in the jurisdiction of ” low castes ” are not good cricketers.
5] My point is, in BCCI and also in most of the things that happen in India, favouritism towards “our own” has always been practised. So the existence of ICL is actually the “quota system”, giving the much needed breakthrough for a number of talented players.
Sandeep Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 5:12 am
It has become a fashion to blame Kiran More and Chappell for everything. Let us remember that Ganguly was not not scoring centuries and centuries when he was dropped….nor was he scoring centuries and centuries when he was recalled. Ganguly has always been an ordinary test batsman by averaging little over 40 runs which in the modern era is very ordinary. Just before Ganguly was recalled, let us not forget that he was scoring in single digits in the county circuit. The point is that we Indians cannot digest our favorite players getting dropped. Decision to drop Ganguly was the right thing to do. Collectively, the four middle order batsmen are struggling now. Unless timely replacements are made …our team is in for a lot of trouble in the future.
Klever Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 5:38 am
A very good article. My cousin plays league cricket in Hyderabad and was on the verge of being selected for the Hyd team. Shivlal Yadev demanded 2 lacs from my cousin to ensure that he gets selected. Shivlal has done a lot of disservice to cricket. BTW, I hope Rayudu does well in ICL. Watched him play twice. A classy batsman. I just hope he gets a bit more consistent with his scores.
Venkataraghavan Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 6:56 am
How should BCCI’s monopoly be busted?
For this question there is a simple, elegant and Legal answer which if applied not only breaks BCCI monopoly legally but also would be an example for similar institutions in India who adopt such unfair practises that seeks to dissuade competition.
That is the Competition law of India,
http://www.competition-commission-india.nic.in/

As per the law in fact what BCCI is doing is reffered to as ABUSE OF DOMINANT POSITION and BCCI can be punished as per section 4(d) Prohibition of abuse of dominant position THE COMPETITION ACT, 2002 No. 12 OF 2003

In addition to this the Competition act is a very powerful one and the Director General of the Competition commission has sweeping powers including the power to Break down large entities that creates unfair practise and derides competition and cease and dessits powers.

It is high time some capable person take up this againts BCCI which is merely interested in growing its monopoly rather than the great game of cricket.
Prashanth Anreddy Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
What is our respected media doing about it when they know a criminal like Shivlal Yadav is playing with the careers of talented players? Shame on HCA. Its been a while Shivlal Yadav has been ruining the careers of players, and playing with the reputation of HCA.

Amabti Rayudu has considered next Sachin. His selection to Indian senior Team was thought to be just round the corner. I still remember the Under-19 World Cup semi-finals match between India and Pakistan in Bangladesh in the year 2003. We lost that game. Rayudu, captain of the Indian team, was serving a one game ban for slow over-rate by his team in the previous game. And the commentators were lamenting how India was missing its star batsman/captain Rayudu.

And today, thanks to Shivlal Yadav, this talent has gone waste. What a disservice to our Indian cricket. Still, I feel it not late yet. Some kind of Inquiry commission should be set-up, SY should be punished for his offenses.
Aman Sharma Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
This is great for the indian cricket as this will teach the BCCI and its executive a lesson that how they should run cricket in india by encouraging the young talent also securing their future with out any politics the only criteria there will be just claass and skill.
Vijay Swaminathan Says:
August 21st, 2007 at 3:41 am
Does it matter if I leave a reply. Does anyone do anything that write blogs? Come on - wake up - arise to the occassion. Join me… lets lead a nation to its destiny.
Be the differentiator, be the patriot, be honorable, be an icon.

Cheerio!
Vijay
Hemanth Says:
August 29th, 2007 at 7:27 am
My response is to Sandeep for post 11 above:

1. When Ganguly was shown the door, that was not for cricketing reasons. He scored 40 and 39 in that test match in pakistan n helped india have partnerships in lower order. Mind you that it was not a high scoring match.

2. Secondly, average of 40 plus is a quite decent average in test cricket(even modern day test cricket). Average above 50 is seen for some great test crickets (gavaskar, dravid, sachin from india). Vengsarkar, laxman, manjerekar, sidhu, amarnath-all have averages in low 40s.

3. Thirdly, when he was out of team, he scored a century, missed another century marginally in hyderabad. He failed in 1 match(both innings)

4. After he is back,he is the most consistent player in the team.

5. His average in one day cricket is among the best in the world.

Have the stats b4 you comment.
ICL And The Quota System | DesiPundit Says:
December 28th, 2008 at 12:45 am
[…] thinks the main reason why almost the entire Hyderabad team has preferred to join the Indian Cricket league is due to the quota system, The quota here refers to the selection of sons of ex-cricketers in the teams that matter at the […]

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