The Board of Control for Cricket in India is rightly overjoyed at the performance of the cricket teams to the Junior World Cup and the tour of Australia respectively. The Juniors (under-19s) won the World Cup title in the tournament held in Kuala Lumpur with a very impressive showing while the seniors played beyond expectations in both the Test Series and the One-Day tri-series, climaxing the tour with a back-to-back win in the finals. The Board expressed itself rather elaborately, announcing Rs 15 lakh each for the members of the victorious junior World Cup team and an enormous sum of Rs 10 crores for the team that did the trip down under. While the Junior team was feted in a grand style in Bangalore, the senior squad were given a fine reception at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground in Delhi.

Fine gestures from the Board and the players were happy. The receptions and other ceremonies are all understandable and so is the announcement of the cash prizes. But somehow the whole thing jarred. The BCCI could have honoured the teams in a more conservative manner, considering the general state the common man and the huge inequalities therein. The BCCI should have been more careful of the sensibilities. In its effort to express its gratefulness it seemed to be bent more on displaying its money power. The whole affair appeared to be a vulgar show of its unlimited wealth. No one grudges the players any rewards but one must view the performance in the correct perspective particularly these days when the game is a magic wand for financial adventures. The junior World Cup winners are still youngsters and quite a few of them already absorbed in domestic cricket. And perhaps in the coming years they would be joining the senior ranks and be ready bigger competition. And as for the seniors the main success has been the winning of the tri-series.

That they managed to defeat Australia in the third Test is creditable but the series , it must be remembered, was won by the host team Everyone has accepted the fact that the success this year was just one of those things and it had come after a long time. Despite the jingoism of the visual media, some of whom went so far as to paint Australia, the country and the Australian media as villains, the plain truth remains that India has only managed to put up a fair show against a superior Australia, a side which has been on top of the world cricket for some two decades if not more. Not only that, despite the heroics of the Indian team, Australia still remains the number one team. It will help everyone, including the overly patriotic, to remember that India has to really work hard and be consistent if it has to be compared with Australia.

Not for nothing is Australia the World Champions in both Test cricket and One-Day cricket. The BCCI's penchant for this exhibition of financial extravaganza appears to be creeping out of its vaults. It has given _expression in the form of threats , withdrawal of teams during the tour of Australia. It has also forced the ICC to change umpires. And Harbajan's case is still too fresh and raw to be elaborated at this junction. It's money which has been said to have wrought all these changes. It is time that the BCCI tried to change its image to one of an efficient unit with the sole purpose of administering and promoting cricket in the country. It can be done without throwing its weight around, especially the money part of it.