Gambhir turns up on first day of nets as judges' blunder puts cricket in limbo

The scene in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) is grim to say the least. And with both the warring factions at loggerheads and closely tied following the sports working committee elections, there is little chance any one will give way. And there is no chance of announcement of a result anytime soon. Which means cricket will continue the way it has been and there will be push and pull from both the factions regarding players’ inclusion.

After days of speculation, Monday eventually saw the camp starting with captain Gautam Gambhir leading the charge. There were about 40-45 players under his wings. Anil Jain, of the Vinod Tihara faction and who had signed one of the three teams, was there as net coordinator and looked pretty cheerful in his office. Surender Khanna, who had been appointed assistant coach in the list sent out by the DDCA executive committee director Ashok Sharma too was there at nets. Madan Lal, who has been appointed mentor by Chetan Chauhan who also sent out a list, will most likely join on Wednesday as he has taken off on Monday and Tuesday. He had told the Hindustan Times newspaper that he will turn up only when things get sorted.

However, the crux of the matter has been the judges’ decision and how they blundered on a simple process. Normally, you don’t question judges’ decision. However, they could have easily avoided all this confusion by first deciding on the ownership of the five disputed clubs and then going ahead with the elections. That they didn’t, has brought the situation to such a pass.

They could have easily let the decision on the ownership be sent to the court or could have allowed both the factions of the two clubs to vote. But they didn’t and first went for the elections. Had the election results been one-sided then there would have been no issue. But unfortunately, the results have come down to a very close fight, 6-4 in Tihara’s favour. Now whichever faction he favours with his decision in the case of ownership of the five clubs, the other one is bound to go to the court as the stakes are high. So as of now the judges’ decision to drag this on for so long and get the priorities wrong has put the entire sports committee in a limbo and open to compromises.