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If India’s fresh 3-1 drubbing in the Test series against England was embarrassing, the implication that the wives and lone girlfriend who accompanied the Indian team were to blame for the debacle was downright disturbing. Cornered by a national daily, a top BCCI official lamented how “even if players wanted to focus on their cricket, their wives were being a big distraction. When some wanted to go to the gym or do nets, they couldn’t do so because their wives wanted to explore the city”. Short of producing photographic evidence of Virat Kohli on a leash — the worst offender, surely, what with a series average of 12.66 runs on the field and a Bollywood girlfriend off it for ‘distraction’ — the official did all he could to argue in favour of a ban on the WAGs (wives and/or girlfriend). Or at least, an enforced time limit for spouses to join the players on tour — a practice that Cricket Australia and the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) already follow. That he chose not to reveal his identity was, perhaps, the only jot of wisdom he displayed.
Not pausing to consider if it was wrong or even politically incorrect and ungentlemanly to charge the women for what was, by all accounts, a poor show of skill, was telling. Any mention of unprofessional behaviour, indiscipline, cricket fatigue or the step-motherly treatment of Tests (vs shorter formats) was deemed out of place. History too was spared the blame-game whip — in the 31 Test series played between the two countries since 1932, England has won 18 and India 9, apart from the ones that ended in a draw. Besides, the average age of the Indian team is only about 30. The Board ought to select older, wiser men, who can keep their immature, itinerant wives in check.
Assuming for a moment that the official was right and so were Cricket Australia and ECB, is it not ungenerous to bring this up at the end of India’s humiliating defeat? If it’s a policy decision that can potentially reverse the Indian team’s losing streak, it could be done without ceremony and at the beginning of the calendar year. Why wait for a crushing defeat?
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