Yes, its time to focus once more on our friend 'Jughead' Jaggu, another famous cartoon character and this one too wears many hats.

Jaggu is the head of world cricket. And guess what? He's also the head of Bengal cricket. Now that's what you call a masterly balancing act--wearing two hats at the same time!

There's a political debate on about the propriety of holding two offices at the same time. But then Jaggu and cricket are above all that, aren't they?

So now here's the catch, or the Catch-22 if you wish.

The Eden Gardens crowd has once again shown its true colours. It's a repeat of the 1996 World Cup semi-final. And for all those who use the excuse of "contemporary social mores" (ugh!), here's a question for you: what then is the excuse for the riot of 1967 when the Test at Calcutta against the West Indies was nearly abandoned?

But coming back to Jaggu's dilemma: as the head or world cricket does he place a ban, at least temporary, on international cricket at Calcutta? Or rather, dare he do so? After all, the Eden matches are a cash cow for those running cricket in Bengal!

Isn't it then all about greed? The greed to keep grabbing more bucks, the great to build ever-bigger stadia, all the while denying spectators their basic rights.

There was a time in the 70s when the capacity at the Eden Gardens was 75,000-plus. Then came the rush of one-day internationals and the demand for tickets grew stronger and stronger.

The answer? Keep building up the stadium.

Now the Melbourne Cricket Ground too has a capacity of 100,000-plus, enlarged for the 1956 Olympic Games. But for the sake of safety and crowd-control the cricket authorities in Australia don't allow more than 90,000 in. And in any case, crowds rarely cross the 70,000 mark.

Talking about greed, here's another example. What the media likes to call the 'Cola Wars'.

Players and fans are crying themselves horse about the wear-and-tear imposed on our cricketers with international cricket being played throughout the year.

But is anyone listening? Certainly not the administrators or the sponsors.

Every tournament and Test series is named after one cola or the other as they bring their international sporting turf wars to Indian soil.

As it is, the team is divided with half signed up for one soft drink, the other with their rival.

Now here's one more 'feather' in Jaggu's cap! The points system of the Asian Test championship is severely flawed and that was proved in that farce of a cricket match at Lahore. Pakistan made sure they would not have to face India in the final. Wickets were thrown away, catches dropped…what a joke.

The tournament was supposed to revive Test cricket. If the authorities don't do something about it the next time around--like changing the points system radically--it may end up killing Tests in Asia at least.

Truth to tell, with so many our boys nursing injuries they mist be mighty relieved they did not make it to the final.

Pace bowler Ajit Agarkar and Javagal Srinath have been nursing injuries. And now comes the news that Sachin Tendulkar has flown to England for treatment to his sprained back.

Meanwhile, the cricket merry go-round continues. After the Asian Test championship comes the tri-series with Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Then it's off to Sharjah for another farce of a tournament.

So who cares for the players? Certainly not the board. And certainly not the sponsors. They both want to squeeze every bit out of our boys. The World Cup after is nearly two months away, right? Right!

Yes, guys. It's that same old theme. Greed. The bane of Indian cricket.

Illustration by Siddhartha Mitra