A male masseur will run his expert fingers over the tired muscles of Delhi’s senior women cricketers to make them feel rejuvenated this domestic season. The Rohan Jaitley-headed Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) has set a unique record by appointing a male masseur for the senior women’s team – possibly the first such instance in the history of Indian cricket.
There are several male appointees for women’s teams, like coaches and team managers, but assigning this sensitive task to a male masseur takes the cake. Until last season, masseurs for women were not appointed. This time, however, someone inside the DDCA has sold his “brilliant idea” successfully, perhaps to divert attention from its teams’ abysmal performance across men’s and women’s categories in recent years.
But the women cricketers who will be selected in the Delhi team are unlikely to readily accept a stranger, that too a male, running his fingers over their bodies, however professional his job may be.
Exposed, the DDCA started brushing under the carpet this highly embarrassing issue. “We have removed the male masseur, though no replacement has been named so far,” claimed an official. But even after his claim, the male masseur’s name continued to figure in the list displayed on the DDCA’s official website on October 1.
That the masseur continues in his position was also confirmed by one of the coaching/support staff attached to the senior women’s team. “I can’t talk on this issue,” the person told Patriot when contacted, thus confirming in a way the masseur hadn’t been removed.
Record-breaking appointments
The masseur blunder is just one nugget of some incomprehensible decisions that the DDCA has already taken, and the domestic season is yet to take off for the DDCA. The foremost is the extraordinarily long list – perhaps the longest in the DDCA’s history – of 121 members comprising selectors, coaches, trainers, physiotherapists, masseurs, and team/logistics managers.
It has 12 personnel more than last year’s list, which itself had 15 more than the year before that. When the 109-member list came out last year, it was said that since it was an election year, DDCA mandarins had obliged those who could garner votes for them and help them retain power.
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But what was the compulsion now? “It is better to give money to these people [in the form of fee] than give it to the government via tax,” said a source, in a shocking justification of the exorbitantly long list. Who knows? It could well be an attempt to camouflage their real intention.
One prominent name missing from last season is that of former India pacer Atul Wassan, who was one of the three “mentors”. While the other two – ex-India pacer Robin Singh junior (red-ball mentor) and ex-India all-rounder Reema Malhotra (women’s) – have been adjusted in different roles this year, Wassan, the white-ball mentor, is out.
After Delhi’s yet another appalling performance last season, Wassan had told Patriot that he would present a “blueprint” to the DDCA “for some immediate action and boosters” that could be implemented in the upcoming off-season. Not only did nothing happen in the off-season, the “mentor” category has been scratched altogether this year.
A senior DDCA member said that the reason for the long list is that all the groups of the coalition in power had to be accommodated. He alleged that one of the group leaders of the coalition is calling the shots, claiming that more than half of the appointees were “his men and women”.
The under-14 mystery
This year a nine-member coaching and support staff has been appointed for the under-14 boys – a category in which no inter-state tournament takes place. Even the BCCI doesn’t organise any under-14 tournament. Some years ago, an under-14 tournament used to be played between states falling within the north zone. That, too, was discontinued after the Covid pandemic.
So, why does DDCA continue to splurge money when there’s nothing to gain?
“It is because almost all the people appointed in this category control a significant number of votes and support the few people who call the shots. Their appointment is a way of obliging them in return for the votes they have fetched for them,” said a DDCA insider. “One of the under-14 coaches is secretary of a DDCA-affiliated club and is quite rich himself.”
A club secretary claimed that anything between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh, or possibly more, is paid per season to each appointee in the under-14 category. For the record, DDCA never discloses the fee of any professional it hires.
Another baffling (non)decision
This year’s three-member senior men’s selection committee comprises retired first-class players, one of whom is “imported” from the Services. But the DDCA, which doesn’t miss any opportunity to score an own goal, didn’t appoint the chairman, even as it named chairpersons for the other three panels, giving birth to an unnecessary controversy.
Former Delhi captain KP Bhaskar (95 first-class matches between 1982/83–1994/95), ex-Services captain Yashpal Singh (134, 2001/02–2019/20), and former Delhi batsman Manu Nayyar (57, 1986/87–1993/94) comprise the senior committee. “The senior-most player as per rules shall be the chairperson (sic),” the DDCA noted in the list posted on its website. “But, true to its character, the DDCA hasn’t provided the relevant rule so that it can manipulate the so-called rules,” observed a critic.
Globally, the convention is that the player who makes his debut earlier is considered “senior”. “But in the DDCA, some top officials who want to install Yashpal as chairman are trying to build the narrative that more matches in a career determine seniority,” said an insider.
Well-known statistician Mohandas Menon said: “Seniority is based on debut. For example, Kenia Jayantilal (Test debut Feb 18, 1971) is senior to Sunil Gavaskar (March 6, 1971).” This should end the debate.
Inter-club rivalry
The DDCA’s list of coaches/selectors has sparked an inter-club debate after the renowned Sonnet Club got a lion’s share of the appointments. Interestingly, all three senior men’s selectors are from Sonnet – and still the issue of chairman remains unresolved.
This has provided scope for controversy and discontent among Sonnet Club’s rivals. “Why should one club hold sway? There are more than 110 clubs affiliated with the DDCA. Why this special treatment for Sonnet?” asks the secretary of a club.
Sonnet, founded by renowned coach Tarak Sinha, has a rich history, as it has produced more international cricketers than any other club in New Delhi. Rishabh Pant is its latest sensational product, following in the footsteps of the likes of Manoj Prabhakar, Ashish Nehra, Wassan, Surinder Khanna, Raman Lamba, Ajay Sharma, Sanjeev Sharma, Aakash Chopra, and Shikhar Dhawan.
