Ravi Shastri and Duncan Fletcher are props to maintain the illusion that N Srinivisan isn't the boss

Success has many fathers. Failure is an orphan. Looking at the Indian cricket team though, one can see a full-fledged squabble break out among what essentially is a bunch of losers. The genius bit is that the squabble is as orchestrated as The Swan Lake by the Bolshoi.
The BCCI in its wisdom appointed Ravi Shastri as the director of cricket affairs last week. Shastri’s job, according to BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel is to decide “what to do and what not to do. The team is with Ravi Shastri. Now it is his baby.”

Failure in the England Test series notwithstanding, Patel’s baby metaphor is supposed to drive home the point that the BCCI has conducted a paternity test and Shastri has been anointed the dad—without having participated in the 1-3 Test series coitus. Shastri, on his part, has being doing the ‘pehle aap, pehle aap’ routine-

“There is only one boss in the Indian team and it is skipper MS Dhoni. The coaching staff will directly report to me”—knowing fully well that he’s the slice of Parmesan placed in between Dhoni and those more successful oligarchs within the BCCI (as opposed to the less successful ones).

And what about Dunkin’ Duncan Fletcher? Well, Dhoni insists that “he is still the boss” and he will “definitely” lead India into the World Cup in February-March next year. The “definitely” gives the game away. Could Fletcher or even Shastri publicly state that Dhoni would “definitely” lead India into the World Cup? (Watch this space for news of Fletcher’s departure soon for “family and personal reasons”.)

The outside world that needs to see some ‘action taken’ after the Test series bludgeoning saw action taken by the BCCI plonking Shastri as cricket director. He comes with a fall guy-in-the-waiting— ‘Dear Duncan, What a wonderful stint you’ve had…’.

So where does that place Dhoni? Many pundits insist that after India’s rotten showing and his own lack of boar-hunting skills, the BCCI is upset with him. The chunk of the BCCI that matters is as upset with him as much Dhoni is upset about India squandering the series. If the BCCI was truly upset with MSD, he would have been forced to change his squad. That hasn't happened much at all. Instead of underperforming players backed by Dhoni being dropped, a Chhau dance recital with a Shastri-Fletcher-Dhoni ensemble is showcased with operatic aplomb.

The coaches who wielded influence football manager-style, such as Ajit Wadekar (1992-96) and Anshuman Gaekwad (1997-99), gave way to the rise of the captain— not as supreme leader a la Imran Khan and Steve Waugh, but as a BCCI-reps. Saurav Ganguly was backed by Jagmohan Dalmia and could do no wrong. This empowerment of the skipper went hand in hand with the disempowerment of the coach. With MSD and BCCI chief hypnotist K Srinivasan, we got the perfect couple. Anyone else with Dhoni’s recent record would have had his wings clipped by a machete. But Bossman Srini remains faithful to him.

So what does Bossman do? Get Shastri as a filling between the buns. And what does Bossman’s Bossboy do? Sing praises to Duncan Fletcher. This enforced ménagea-quatre pretending to be an unstable ménage-a-trois may not get India results on the field. But it keeps India cricket’s most abiding and passionate relationship going. Perhaps even after Srinivasan demits office next month.