‘It’s not a punishment, just rules’ – Agarkar defends BCCI’s 10-point player guidelines

‘It’s not a punishment, just rules’ – Agarkar defends BCCI’s 10-point player guidelines

The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s new set guidelines for its players, following the series defeat against Australia, has been making headlines over the last couple of days.

While captain Rohit Sharma chose not to react on the issue since there hasn’t been any official word from the Board, Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of the national selection committee, defended it.

“I think every team has some rules in place. We have spoken about various things you see over the last few months where we can improve as a team and get a bit closer as a team. We have seen in the last few months the need for some changes, more bonding in the team,” Agarkar said, responding to the 10-point BCCI guidelines for national men’s team players.

However, he clarified that it’s not like a school punishment for the players. “It’s not a school, it’s not a punishment. It’s just you have some rules and when you are playing for the national team, you just follow the rules. These are mature individuals. They are superstars in their own right in international sport. They know how to handle themselves,” he added.

“But, at the end of the day, you’re eventually representing your country and there are certain things that you inherently follow as every team does. I think a lot of them have been in place, maybe we’ve spoken about it now and it has been put out but a lot of them have been in place in any case. You keep on refining it as you go along, eventually what suits the team, you want to try and do that,” he said.

According to the policy document, which Sportstar has seen, the Board has barred all the players from engaging in personal shoots or endorsements during a series or tour in an effort to avoid any distraction.

Among the other guidelines, the players now need to stay with the team until the scheduled end of a match or series or tour. Even if the match gets over early, no player can return home separately as it hampers the team dynamics.

The decisions come in the wake of allegations that there is a clear rift among players and the team management. Following the review meeting last Saturday, the Board has now prohibited players from travelling with personal staff such as chefs, assistants or personal security guards during tours.