India-South Africa Cricket Relations... In Times of Haroon Lorgat

The change of regime in the Indian board has not resulted in any change of relations with the South African board.

India and South Africa have historic ties, which dates back to well over a century. Father of the Indian nation Mahatma Gandhi began his journey in South Africa and inspired the Rainbow Nation’s Madiba, Nelson Mandela.

So when South Africa was readmitted to international cricket in 1991, India was among the first to back them. In fact, South Africa’ first ODI series on readmission was in India in November 1991, after a Pakistan team pulled out following Shiv Sena’s threats.

India was also the first side to tour South Africa for the first full tour to the country since 1971. So with all that in the background, it was expected that the Indo-South African cricket ties would reach new heights.

It did, when in 2009 the Indian Premier League (IPL) was moved to South Africa, almost on a whim, because it clashed with the then general elections in India. The two boards even collaborated, along with Cricket Australia (CA), to put together the now defunct Champions League Twenty20.

South African players too became big draws in the IPL, including the likes of AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, David Miller, among a whole host of others.

But things have gone downhill since 2013. In the Indian cricketing circles’ change of regime, presence of Supreme Court appointed administrators and a new semi-professional unit, under CEO Rahul Johri, has also not been able to arrest the slide in the faltering relationship.

The issue really started when Haroon Lorgat, the former Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC), took charge as CEO of Cricket South Africa (CSA). During his time at the ICC, Lorgat’s approach was not liked by the BCCI, and its then president N Srinivasan.

So when Lorgat was about to take over as CSA CEO, there was a lot of opposition from Srinivasan. CSA representatives made a beeline to Chennai to convince the then Indian cricket strongman, but to no avail.

Thereafter, Srinivasan ensured that the itinerary of India’s tour of South Africa (2013-14), which was earlier announced with much fanfare, was truncated to just two Tests and three ODIs. For a series earmarked as a marquee contest, it was a complete disservice because individual ego became paramount.

Then in 2015, after many forced changes in the BCCI, the relation appeared to have changed. India and South Africa announced that all future Test series would be played for the Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela Trophy. South Africa toured India in 2015-2016 for a full tour and things appeared to be on track.

But then again things have soured. India were to tour South Africa for a full series this winter, but there was considerable delay in announcing the schedule. South Africa considers the hosting of a Boxing Day Test from 26 December as an annual ritual. They were naturally keen to host India yet again, but the Lorgat question again returned to hamper the relations between the cricket boards.

So there was considerable delay in finalising the schedule. There were murmurs about Indian captain Virat Kohli insisting on playing two warm-up games before the Test series which was delaying the announcement of the schedule.

With CSA packing their already packed domestic season with the first edition of T20 Global League, their version of franchise T20 cricket, there was limited time on hand.

For India, the season was already facing a huge gap with the unlikelihood of a series against Pakistan. So to pack it up, India invited Sri Lanka for a full tour and further hampered chances of a full tour to South Africa.

To spite one man again, Lorgat, India insisted on not touring South Africa for the Boxing Day Test and this forced the entire itinerary to be redrawn yet again.

Finally, when the schedule was revealed earlier this week, the itinerary had three Tests along with nine shorter format games!

Earlier, there was talk about scheduling of four Tests, but now there are just three.

With bilateral ODI and T20I cricket having no context, at least not till the much anticipated leagues of the ICC does not begin, these matches will have no consequence. For an Indian Test team on the rise, there was a need for a stiff test away from home. The deduction of a Test only hampers their growth because the BCCI seems to dislike one man in the CSA.

With world cricket slowly but surely, with very few credible sides, offering any contest in Test cricket, there was a need to strengthen the already weak foundation. But the change of regime in the Indian board has not resulted in any change of attitude, it seems.

AB de Villiers could potentially be returning to play Test cricket in time for the India series, in nearly two years and probably the last time we could have seen the South African talisman in whites against India.  Just the presence of de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn for their last possible Test series against India, there should have been some leeway to play the scheduled four Test series.

Consider it this way, if India do well over a four-Test series, there would be complete silence on the part of Doubting Thomasses in the West, who still mock our number one status in the longest format. But that hardly matters to the men who make decisions on either side of this divide. At least unlike 2013, India’s tour of South Africa is slightly longer this time, and that in itself is a victory of sorts for the fans.

But it still remains quite a pity because the two founding fathers of modern India and South Africa, after whom the series has been named, would certainly not have approved of this.

(Chandresh Narayanan is ex-cricket writer for The Times of India, The Indian Express, ex-Media Officer for ICC and current media manager of Delhi Daredevils. He is also the author of World Cup Heroes, Cricket Editorial consultant, professor and cricket TV commentator.)