For me, Srinivasan has been one of the best Board presidents: Engineer

Most former Indian cricketers as a rule don’t play ball when it comes to the Board of Control for Cricket in India. They’d rather not say anything than risk a chance to lose out on future revenue or a plump coaching assignment. But former India keeper Faroukh Engineer doesn’t have any worries of that sort. He lives in England and if there is something on his mind – he’ll say it without a second thought. It’s always been that way. The veteran with a reputation for candour spoke to Firstpost about the BCCI, the world of cricket and the one redeeming quality of N Srinivasan in a free-wheeling interview. Q. Why is the world of cricket against the BCCI? The BCCI is by far the richest cricket board in world cricket. I think the rest of the world is envious of us. And there is a general feeling that when the ICC takes a decision, it does that to favour the BCCI because the BCCI has that clout. Not necessarily true. I don’t have much time for the ICC because some of their moves have been baffling. Q. The players don’t have any control in how the Board functions, should it be that way? I think the players should be players. And administrators should be administrators. If you say that some of the ex-players should be administrators then yes, I will agree with you. I would have loved to play an important role. Q. Tennis for example has a powerful players association. Nadal is on the panel and they fight for player rights, the length of the season, the number of tournaments… I am not sure our own players want to have a players association. I am not sure why. Because I was asked by Professional Cricketers Association to head the Indian Players Association and I said I would be honoured to do it. But I think there was some objection (I am not quite sure whether it was from the players or the someone else). Players in India make so much money, players in other countries make less. But players everywhere fall on hard times and there should be some sort of scheme to ensure that former cricketers don’t die in penury. Like Eknath Solkar, for example, I do hope his family is catered to, he gave his life for the game. He took so many blows on the body to make the Indian spinners a feared lot. [caption id=“attachment_1128185” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Farokh Engineer believes that Srinivasan is one of the best BCCI presidents ever. Getty Images[/caption] Q. Ravi Shastri recently said that cricketers (former or otherwise) should simply not criticise the BCCI… because it does so much for them? Shastri… criticising the BCCI? I can’t see that happening. It is his prerogative and I don’t want to go into that. Jealousy…. how real is it? Don’t forget when India play England or Australia or Pakistan… they all make money too. Because no matter where India play, Indians will play a fortune to come and watch. Pehle gaali denge but they will still be there. With our population and our pulling power, we run the game. Do the others like this? Can they really like it? You tell me. There is a line of thought that India doesn’t need the rest of the world to play cricket… No, no… who are you going to play against then… Just the IPL alone is enough… some might say… like say the Premiership… No. The IPL is making money for everyone – for the Aussies, the English, the West Indians, the Sri Lankans. We used to be called ‘bloody Indians’ till a few years back by some of the foreign cricketers that I played with and now they are all looking over here, hoping for a chance to make money. So has Indian cricket made all the right moves? No one can make all the right moves. But if you make most of the right moves, then you are considered okay. People will be jealous and they will try to knock us down but I think we are now strong enough to stand on our own two feet and give it back. How are India’s young cricketers different from you guys? There is one big difference – our bank balances. We used to get 50 rupees a day for a Test match. They get crores now. We used to stay in first class hotels or fly and all that. I was made captain but struck off for suggesting that we fly from Bombay to Calcutta because the foreign team flew. We had some rank idiots in our time. So what do you think of the guys running cricket now? Much better than what we had in our time. Anyone would be better, really. Stripping me of captaincy because I suggested we should fly? Why do you think Pataudi didn’t play more Tests? Or why Wadekar was removed as captain? We had some funny guys who didn’t understand the game at all – led by certain influential people, who exercised control. I am not saying that does not happen now. But that’s Hindustan. You have got to accept India. In India, with all it’s credibility and everything, there will always be a certain amount of malaise that will exist and has been there since forever. This is our nature. I don’t think we can ever change that. So is Srinivasan’s saving grace is the pension scheme and the one-time payment? Without a shadow of doubt. Mr Srinivasan may be criticised because maybe his son-in-law is involved in a betting scam but what he has done is put a pension scheme in place that ensures that India’s cricketers are the envy of the world. If you are a Test cricketer, you get 35,000 rupees a month. No one, anywhere in the world has even thought of that. And whatever you say to Mr Srinivasan, I would salute him. He and present Board have done this for the cricketers. That is why you won’t find a lot of cricketers saying anything against the Board. So the good, in a sense, outweighs the bad? Of course. By far. For me, he has been one of the best Board presidents. I can’t see anyone else. Do you think the BCCI should be more transparent though? Yes, of course. That is always the case. But do you think transparency is in our language. Is our PM transparent? Is our government transparent? The betting scandal, the spot-fixing – they damage the credicility of cricket… of Indian cricket in particular… how bad is it for us? It’s bad for Indian cricket. Because people point a finger at us. When you are at the top, they are looking to knock you off your perch. They are very, very envious of us and that is where all these shenanigans really hurt us. But I don’t think we are bothered frankly. That seems to be the case. But hats off to the Board for banning Sreesanth – at least they are doing something. The last time round, the players (Azhar and the others) got off with a slap to their wrists and nothing else. There were no harsh punishments. Not really harsh. It was just a life ban. If they really had proof, they should have frozen the bank accounts. That would have been a real deterrent. What happened though… doesn’t scare anyone.