To any observer of how sports in this country is managed, rather mismanaged, cricketer Virender Sehwag’s decision to challenge the honchos of Delhi and District Cricket Association comes as no surprise. The only surprise is that it has taken so long in coming.

Now there is a whisper campaign that Sehwag is riled because one of his relatives wasn’t picked in the team, hence his threat. Even if it were true, no one is buying the argument and the association bosses must blame themselves for this pitiable state. The whimsical manner in which they have run the association all these years, without accountability, deserves no better.

And honestly, why blame DDCA alone? One keeps hearing of similar instances from other cricket associations as well. One Uttarakhand player, for example, once came up to me and said he was asked to shell out Rs 10 lakh to be able to get in the 16-member state team (not the playing 11, mind you). I brought this to the notice of the powers-that-be in the state, but doubt if anything happened. I only know that the youngster is now with a call centre in the National Capital Region.

There have been disturbing reports in recent times. One talked about a national level player who has resorted to prostitution to make ends meet, and another report showed pictures of women national athletes serving tea and coffee to pot-bellied, slimy, officials at NIS in Patiala. But so immune have we become to such instances that they hardly stirred anyone.

Can the government do anything to help? Yes and No. Ideally, sportsmen should themselves run the sports, for they have been through it all and would, hopefully, be able to understand what the fresh crop require to deliver at the world stage. As for the government, it should merely play the role of an honest facilitator. If facilitating means making the real sportspersons wait outside some babu’s office for hours, it won’t do. It has to ensure that those who are to facilitate are told in no uncertain terms that they are to play a supportive role, and not usurp the role of controlling the sportspersons.

And before I end, please look up the logo of the government’s Sports Authority of India. It has an athletics track that shows motion in clockwise direction. Any fool will tell you that all athletic events take place anti-clockwise. And there rests my case!