Karnataka cricket: Time to overhaul the system not just reboot

What do you do when you are facing a computer glitch and your office tech support team is taking its own sweet time to attend to the issue? You simply reboot the system! While it may be the quickest and often the most convenient solution to a malfunction, it’s never the ideal one. The problem keeps nagging you until the quick fix is no longer effective. That’s where Karnataka cricket is at the moment. It needs an overhaul of the system for long-term gains rather than a reboot for short-term benefits.

While it’s hard to recollect the last time they won a trophy in BCCI-conducted domestic age-group tournaments, the senior team drew a blank this season too. Their last title came in 2019 when they won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (T20). The performance in the recently concluded Ranji Trophy was perhaps their lowest point in a long while. It was not just the quarterfinal defeat against Uttar Pradesh that was demoralising; even the manner of their progress to the knockouts was hardly encouraging. In a group consisting of Puducherry, Jammu & Kashmir and Railways on which they should have imposed themselves, the Manish Pandey-led team didn’t look entirely convincing. If that was a sign of things to come, the embarrassing loss against UP at home after taking a lead of 98 runs was perhaps the lowest point since they were relegated to Plate Division when it was introduced for the first time in the 2002-03 season.

The commentators calling the quarterfinal were aghast at how Karnataka, which had four internationals, crumbled against underdogs UP. Off air, one commentator went to the extent of remarking that several players in the present team appeared to lack pride in representing Karnataka. “This is not the Karnataka team I saw during my playing days,” he added. “It was always fierce, competitive and proud of its legacy.”

So then, how did a state that has won eight Ranji Trophy titles, second only to Mumbai in the country, six Irani Cups and produced several world class cricketers - from GR Vishwanath to Rahul Dravid and EAS Prasanna to Anil Kumble – manage to hit such a low? The problem is at multiple levels but the most glaring one has to be the absence or the weakening of an ecosystem that ensured a constant supply chain of quality players. While those issues persist, it remains to be how Karnataka fares in the 2022-23 season, starting September 8 with the inter-zonal Duleep Trophy.

“We don’t have a second line of spinners, fast bowlers or wicketkeepers,” said a source tracking Karnataka cricket. “Can you believe the KSCA (Karnataka State Cricket Association) Cricket Academy has been dysfunctional for close to three years now? We have a new season coming up in a couple of weeks, but the existing selection committee members have no idea whether they are going to continue or not. There’s a state U-19 league currently but hardly any selector is watching those games. Everyone is busy with the Maharaja Trophy T20 tournament. Clearly, the priorities are different.”

Stressing the importance of a functional academy, the source said: “At present, we have no system in place to track the players. There’s no follow-up on how talented mofussil players are progressing. There is a crying need for dedicated coaches and the academy to constantly monitor the players and guide them.”

Roger Binny, the former India all-rounder who is now the president of the KSCA, agreed partly with this assessment. “Yes, the academy not working has been a huge setback. It has affected our junior cricket - the age-group players,” he noted. “We, however, didn’t want to rush things once cricket activities started after the Covid break. We didn’t want to start and then shut again. But we are kicking off things soon. We will come up with a proper structure in place.”

Binny insisted that their selectors had been asked to watch U-19 matches. “Obviously you can’t watch all matches, you have to pick the right matches and that they have been doing.”

The 1983 World Cup winner reckoned the problem wasn’t unique to Karnataka. “You see, the IPL has changed the game in the country,” said Binny, lamenting how Karnataka’s batsmen perished in the Ranji quarterfinal. “It’s not just us who are facing this issue, any state team that has a large number of players in the IPL is suffering because their long-format game has been compromised. The mind-set to play the longer version is missing. Which team won the Ranji Trophy this time? Madhya Pradesh... which again didn’t have many players representing IPL teams,” he offered.

It must be mentioned though that opener Rajat Patidar (RCB), left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya (MI) did play in the IPL. Though pacers Avesh Khan (DC), Kuldeep Sen (RR) and all-rounder Vekatesh Iyer (KKR) didn’t play the Ranji knockouts, they got a decent to extended run this IPL.

Former India pacer Javagal Srinath agreed that T20 cricket has had an impact on how the red-ball game is played and “this is where a functional academy would make a difference.”

Underlining the importance of the association-run academy, Srinath advocated multiple centres in Bengaluru alone. “What has happened in the absence of the KSCA academy is that the space has been occupied by private academies. I am not against private academies, but at the end of the day, that is a commercial venture. Your best players - whether they are 100, 200 or 300 - should be training at the association-run academy under the best coaches available. This is where you talk to them, make them understand the value of Test cricket. Help them inculcate that mindset which values defending a ball as much as hitting a six.

“I would even say Bengaluru alone needs at least four satellite centres, given how much the city has grown and the traffic problems. Players should be able to train at their nearest centres. This should be the priority and it should always have been. Are you telling me there aren’t 250 cricketers from across Karnataka who don’t deserve free training and coaching and make the most of the modern infrastructure? You think KSCA can’t afford it? How long can you keep it on the back burner?” Srinath, a former KSCA secretary, wondered.

Surely, for an association that has taken all efforts to repackage the erstwhile Karnataka Premier League and roll it as the Maharaja Trophy T20 tournament in a matter of couple of months, resuming the activities of the academy shouldn’t have been that arduous. While it’s fine to conduct such tournaments, the state associations’ primary job is to ensure a conveyor belt of quality players for all formats. It’s a challenge, but not an insurmountable one.