New Delhi:Ratnakar ShettyA chemistry professor began his journey in 1975 as a cricket administrator, which was in charge of cricket employees at Wilson College in Mumbai. He then moved from the Bombay Cricket Association’s Tournament Committee to the Manager of Indian Cricket Teams and as the Chief Administrative Officer of the Control Board for Cricket in India, concluded as a general manager before retirement.
In the fourth episode of the Bombay Sport Exchange (BSE), K Minhinavas Rao, several times, sat with Professor Ratnakar Shetty, head of the material (sports), on the Internet. The experienced administrator has never depended on the growth of Indian cricket, the politics of Indian cricket, and the BCCI on the Government of India for years.
Shetty recalls how BCCI worked before winning India 1983 ODI World Cup And how different it used to be from the current setup, where the Indian Cricket Board is running cricket everywhere.
“It began with a room office,” Shetty reminded.
“Cricket Club of India was compulsory to give a place in the Brabourne Stadium in those days, not only for BCCI but also for other sports. Even the office of the Bombay Cricket Association was on the ground. The BCCI was on the first floor. BCCI’s total office place was 500 sq ft.
The experienced administrator also revealed how a cashless BCCI worked and why the role of royal families in the development of Indian cricket could not be ignored.
“BCCI was lucky, or Indian cricket was lucky, to get support to start with royal families, who funded a lot of Indian cricket in those days. And then, of course, as administrators, we have Mr. Ma Chidambaram, Shri Mangam Chinnasami, and Mr. PM Rangad, and Mr. PM Rangad, and Shri PM Rangad, and Shri PM Rangad, PM-day-day-on-the-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-the-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-day-t-t-t-t-t-deed.
“There was no money. And you can imagine that the post of the treasurer at BCCI for 65 years was run by two people. One Zal was Irani, after which the Iranian Trophy was named, and the other was Mr. Chidambaram.
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Taking a jib on the current Indian cricketers, who earn in millions, Shetty remembered how much the cricketers of that time used to get.
“The youth probably did not realize these days that they were paid Rs 50 per day when the test cricketers were paid Rs 50 per day. In the initial days a Ranji Trophy cricketer was paid 5 rupees. But no one mumbled. They were very happy and proud to play for their state teams and even continued for India.”
During the practical conversation, Professor Shetty also revealed how big teams threw tantrums when asked to visit India and why they asked for guarantee money before every major tour.
“The only problem we faced, when we asked the West Indies, Australia and England for a tour, we had to pay guarantee money in those days to travel to India in those days. These days were demanded for these big teams to come and play in India these days. Once in 4 years, mutual.
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“We used to spend money when the team visited these countries. But when we wanted them to visit our country, we had to pay a certain amount of money to pay the money. The BCCI had to pay, and the BCCI had to recover from places to conduct test matches in those days. Therefore, these venues were used.
Things have changed so much that in 2019-20, Cricket Australia was on the verge of bankruptcy, there was no visit to India.
Shetty also touched the subject of how BCCI raised money to reward the 1983 ODI World Cup winning team.
“Mr. NKP Salve (then BCCI President), when he entered the dressing room at Lord’s after the Indian team won the World Cup in 1983, and asked for the prize money, he declared ₹ 1 lakh as a prize money. I asked him about the story, and he said that he could not do anything, when he had no money.
“If I am not wrong, about 21 lakhs, of which ₹ 14 lakh for players, and ₹ 15 lakh for the manager, the World Cup team was distributed to the team. And the remaining amount was given to DDCA at that time. Which tells you the story of Indian cricket.”
