Benevolent Dictators at Team India

And Roy Keane's work rate

    It was 2011, the year in which Ryan ten Doeschate changed many perceptions of Associate Cricket in the big, wide world of Test cricket. It was the year of the World Cup in India during which the Netherlands batsman scored a remarkable 119 against England during a tournament in which he amassed 307 runs at an average of 61.4 including a second century against Ireland.

    His consistency and the quality of his performances led to the offer of a contract from the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL which raised even more eyebrows, but not in England where his star had been steadily rising with Essex for years. Nor, indeed, with the cognoscenti of Dutch cricket.

    He was ostensibly hired as cover for another overseas all rounder with whom he had started his career at Western Province, the slightly more high-profile Jacques Kallis. He was not expecting to get much game-time at the Knight Riders, but he was ready – and eminently qualified.

    So, when KKR suffered a rash of injuries towards the end of the season and were down to just four fit overseas players, his time had arrived. Or so he might have thought. But KKR ‘bottled it’ and selected just three overseas players preferring an extra local in the starting XI.

    Captain Gautam Gambhir, accustomed to the substantial egos of most professional cricketers, was profoundly affected by ten Doeschate’s reaction to the apparent snub and never forgot it. Last month it resulted in Gambhir insisting to a sceptical BCCI board that he wanted the former all rounder as an assistant after he was appointed head coach of Team India.

    Not that it was the only reason, of course. After a 20-year career at Essex which culminated in him captaining the club first to promotion and then two championship titles, he began a coaching career immediately. It was no surprise.  As a keen student of the game he was always learning and assisting younger players – and as one of the most selfless and empathetic players of the modern era, he was a natural.

    “He taught me the meaning of being selfless, of being a team man and putting the team first before individuals,” Gambhir has said on a number of occasions. “I would take a bullet for him.” That’s a notion which makes ten Doeschate wince. But he remembers the match, just. He pulled on his reserve bib and prepared to throw balls to the batsmen who were selected, did everything he could to help the team win the game.

    “I do remember it, but I didn't see it as a big thing at all, and still don't. I would be gutted if anyone behaved any differently. It reminds me of the Roy Keane quote, when someone mentioned Alex Ferguson’s comments about him covering every blade of grass and fighting for every ball. And he says: ‘What else am I expected to do? What are you praising me for? This is what I do, it’s my job.’

    “I’m nowhere near that level but it is important how you how you carry yourself around the group, and whether you're disappointed or feel overlooked, that’s no reason to do anything less than your best, anything else is unacceptable. I guess he saw that when we were at Knight Riders together,” ten Doeschate said. “What I gave to KKR is the same as I have given to every team I’ve been with, and it will be with India.”

    In another recent development, BCCI Secretary, Jay Shah, took over as Chairman of the ICC with little more than a nudge and a wink in the direction of incumbent Greg Barclay, who could have served another two years. But he, like everyone else, knew exactly who was boss. Or was about to be. And nobody was going to stand in his way.

    Gautam Gambhir and Jay Shah. Two hard men. Both known for being uncompromising and intimidating, even confrontational. And yet… Gambhir knows who he is, recognises and accepts the scraps he’s been in and the feelings he has hurt. Acknowledging there are limits to personal change and, accepting his gnarly positives, Gambhir had the sensitivity to soften his rough edges – for the sake of the players – by having ten Doeschate on his team.

    Shah, meanwhile, has bullishly defended the BCCI’s almost 40% share of the global game’s revenue. That will never change. Unless it increases. But he may have shown his softer side by backing Cricket Australia’s initiative to reinstate the ICC’s ‘Test Fund’ to keep the format alive, if not thriving.

    Cricket Australia chairman, Mike Baird, instigated the move following South Africa’s shambolic ‘D’ team Test tour of New Zealand in February, and it has been championed by Shah: “There should be a dedicated fund for Tests, whether it’s $10m or $15, or more”, Shah said in India this week. “It is expensive to host teams for five-day Tests, so we are preparing for it. If the [ICC] board agrees, we are ready to do it.” Shah will, effectively, control the board next week. The board will approve whatever he tells it to approve.

    Baird’s initiative may have been prompted by a love of Test cricket but, and this is not a negative criticism, there is no doubt a fiscal concern given the importance of the format during the Australian Test summer. They can’t afford (literally) to have South Africa rocking up and being beaten inside two days at the Gabba. Shah, like Gambhir, may have a touch of dictator about him. Could both versions also be tinged with benevolence? Just…a little?