I was witness to one of the finest moments of Indian cricket, when the team entered the finals of the 2003 World Cup at Durban. I then watched the final in Johannesburg which they lost. I next saw the Indian team win the one-day series in Pakistan. That was the real high for me and millions of cricket fans. Unfortunately, since then Indian cricket has taken a dizzying tailspin, in performance on the field as well as administration symbolised by the country's cricketing bosses, the BCCI. The latest controversy involving the coach and the captain symbolises a new low.

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Previous covers on cricket scandals

When it comes to cricket in India, sanity and reason tend to get thrown out of the nearest window. Short of an India-Pakistan war, it alone has the power to lift an entire country into a paroxysm of patriotic pride, or, conversely, nationwide depression. It is truly the opium of the masses, with millions of fans who believe they are better qualified as selectors than the incumbents. For once, they may just be right. Even with the strictest standards of objectivity, it is clear that the convenient compromise worked out by the BCCI over the Sourav Ganguly-Greg Chappell divide is a recipe for disaster. Viewed against the backdrop of the messy politicking involving the two opposing camps within the BCCI, it represents Indian cricket's darkest hour.

It is patently obvious that Chappell and Ganguly have irreconcilable differences. The Board, instead of opting for tough decisions, has gone in for short-term measures to paper over the cracks. There are also obvious signs that the two warring camps in the BCCI have made the world's richest sporting body another milch cow to be fought over. Money and ego have triumphed over any thought for the game or the players. The unseemly battle in the Board has exposed its ugly underbelly.

It's a familiar story in Indian sport but when it affects the country's most popular game, it is time to take serious note. Our cover story does just that. Deputy Editor Sharda Ugra, who has closely followed the Indian cricket team's fortunes for many years, has the phone numbers of the main actors in the present soap opera on her speed dial. As she says, "It is difficult to decide whether in this high drama the BCCI is Macbeth walking around scenes of devastation or whether it is Hamlet scratching its chin, not knowing what to do."

This is our 28th cover story on cricket, testimony to the predominant role it plays in our national life. Of those, five have involved scandals or controversies. For the future of India's unofficial national sport, we can only hope that this one does not do too much damage. History, however, is a cruel umpire and it seems, for now, that it has consigned Indian cricket to the pavilion of scandal and shame.

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