A step forward....or too many steps ahead??

The BCCI's "reforms" of Indian cricket are, while welcome in some respects, certainly surprising and, I feel, too much of a knee-jerk reaction to happenings at WC 2007. I agree with pruning the Elite group to 10 teams. I also agree with the formation of a pool of cricketers to feed and stock the national team. But limiting players' endorsements? Removing the coach's position and putting in a manager instead? Please. Granted players might spend too much time on ads and endorsements. Granted our last coach spent more time leaking sensitive emails than actually setting a foundation for the future ( he did good work with the present batch, I'll grant that). [ And anyway, who're the former captains to decide that the players shouldn't get as much money? They didnt make as much money in their time, for sure, but denying men who followed them, just out of jealousy??? For it can only be that, else why should the Board have any say on the endorsements a player can make or not?]
One bad World Cup does not a disaster make. For sure, we lost to Bangaldesh and SL when we should've won at least against one of them. But there's the rub. Isn't that the glory of cricket, and especially ODI cricket? True, not on a regular basis but...isn't the history of the game littered with such unexpected and devastating triumphs by the underdog? Isn't that what makes the game worth watching? [ Did Australia have such a complete overhaul after their disastrous 1992 WC? Even if they did, I distinctly don't remember such panic or hysteria in Australia then]Thats why I feel the knee-jerk reaction shown by the board, not the fans, mind you, does not make sense. Rather, it stinks of panic and lack of a planned, calm approach.
Its too much, too soon and maybe even in some cases, too late. Where will we get the 30 player pool from? I doubt our pool of international-level talent stretches to 20, let alone 30.How are we going to manage to have it in place and feeding the national team by the next WC?I doubt very much if it'll even be functionally viable by the 2015 WC.
Of course, that said, our players haven't helped their cases any either. With Tendulkar breaking his usual silence with some ill-timed and ill-advised comments to the media coupled with Bhajji and others sniping at Dravid and clamouring for Sourav throughout, I never felt the team that went to the Windies was a united one. If anything, we could only win when the other team collapsed or froze at our reputations or the pitch was overwhelmingly in our favour. [ Remember Bermuda?] Tendy and others must be reprimanded ( which has been done now, thank God) and made to toe the team line. Whatever the frissures in the team, one's not doing anyone a favour by airing it in public. The press is a powerful tool , for sure - for change and knowledge, not for washing dirty linen in public.
That leads me to my final point - the media hysteria. Sure, sponsors are pumping tons of money into the game. Sure, it captures the imaginations of nearly the whole country. But please, astrological predictions ??? Mandira Bedi clones on commentary teams? [ And I mean Mandira Bedi circa 2003 - she's vastly improved now and actually makes sage comments, fed though they may be]Half of the reason the BCCI and fans reacted so crazily was the way the media hyped up our ( admittedly mediocre) team's chances before the WC and fed them to the lions just as gleefully after their shock exit. This just has to stop, or at least lessen in degree, if any semblance of sanity is ever to be brought back to Indian cricket and its administration.
India,circa 2008, will look like a Dad's army. But what a Dad's army!!! They deserve a better sendoff into the sunset than an officious Board, a demagoguing media and jealousy all round at their endorsements. sheesh.....will we ever learn to value those who serve our country?