The BCCI tries to change its spots

The India team's director Ravi Shastri and Test captain Virat Kohli have ridden off for the short tour of Bangladesh like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in the happy portions of the movie of course. Kohli's assessment of his team came like a long-awaited monsoon shower: "We have learnt a lot but I don't think we have to keep playing with the mindset of 'we have to keep learning all the time'... I think it's time […] that we start executing our skills and getting results our way."

This after many months of concentrating on the "process", during which India lost 17 out of 39 Tests - including 15 of 24 overseas - between the last two World Cups. On the back of those numbers, verbal fire from Sundance and Butch was naturally needed to clear the air.

During the season ahead, they will have to walk such fighting talk. Much like their bosses in the new BCCI dispensation. Now into its fourth month, the current BCCI regime is led by the board's old fox, Jagmohan Dalmiya, as president, and driven by its secretary Anurag Thakur. After the IPL ended in May, there has been activity, and pronouncements and declarations from Dalmiya and Thakur.

The most recent announcement put Rahul Dravid in charge of the India A and Under-19 teams. Before that, a three-man Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman was given a broad - if vague - ambit to offer advice and expert assistance. And before that, a proposal to introduce contracts for women cricketers and to add two more tournaments for women was mooted. As of now the Nepal team is in Dharamsala for a camp to prepare for their World T20 qualifier, to be held in Scotland and Ireland.

Suddenly, peace has broken out with Cricket South Africa, so much of it in fact that its chief executive Haroon Lorgat, the most noire of the BCCI's bêtes, was present at the IPL final. The Indian board's cold war with CSA was born from push and shove in the ICC, which led to bruised egos and offended sensibilities. With the main protagonists - N Srinivasan and Sundar Raman - now invisible, all seems to have been forgiven. Standing alongside Lorgat at the IPL final was Bangladesh Cricket Board president Mustafa Kamal. He, when ICC president, had been removed from the duty of presenting the World Cup to champions Australia days after he criticised the umpiring in the quarter-final between Bangladesh and India.

Every action from Dalmiya and Thakur has been a deliberate breakaway from the BCCI's image acquired over the last few years. If Srinivasan's BCCI was a wealthy, exclusive gated community, the new leadership has opted for all-round inclusion. It is how Dalmiya built his power base during the 1990s. Thakur, 40, a former U-19 cricketer for Punjab and a two-time Member of Parliament, is an ambitious politician who knows how to work the numbers and build consensus.

They have given high-profile assignments to contemporary names, leapfrogging the Sunil Gavaskar-Kapil Dev generation. There had been little movement in the eight years since women's cricket was placed under the BCCI's control in 2006. Previous requests from Nepal and Afghanistan were not immediately granted, as the BCCI moved towards the Big Three-driven model of governance, revenue distribution and general attention.

The board's latest actions have proved that unlike what had been hoped for (or feared, depending which side you were on) Srinivasan has not remote-controlled the BCCI's operations, though his men hold all but a single elected seat in the board. Dalmiya was elected unopposed as president, and Thakur won the secretary's job by a single vote.

Srinivasan's now silent camp is no doubt champing at the bit, outraged that their achievements have been overshadowed. After the introduction of pensions for former international players in 2004, former first-class players also came under the scheme two years later. The arrival of Srinivasan as BCCI treasurer ensured a certain order and method to the distribution of funds to players and associations. The revenues earned from the IPL led to greater stipends to state associations, and the more responsible among them improved their infrastructure. At the first-class level, games were videotaped, there were coaches for umpires, scorers were given improved tools and maintained a central statistical database. The disorderly behemoth of Indian cricket was being given distinct shape.

Yet in the post-IPL era what the BCCI gained in revenues and progress at ground level, it lost rapidly in terms of goodwill at the top because of ego, entitlement and an authoritative hand; it was accountable to no one and intolerant of dissent. The 2013 IPL corruption scandal and its aftermath, and the heavy tread of the Big Three, led by the BCCI, on the smaller nations, provided an illustration.

It is to repair a battered public image and remove general global resentment that Dalmiya and Thakur have made their first moves. It is what new regimes do first as a matter of course: send out a signal that things will get better on their watch.

Three months is too little time by which to judge Dalmiya and Thakur's promises and plans. A year from now, their words must be backed by performance, particularly with Indian cricket's most visible, viable component - the national team. Genuine change at domestic level - addressing the dearth of spinners and the obsession with green pitches, for example - can only occur slowly. International performances, however, will draw the most attention and the team's results will determine criticism or praise. It is unfair on hard-working officials at the grass roots, but logic rarely drives Indian cricket.

To strengthen its involvement in a grand and amorphous project, the CAC could get stuck into the simple, workable things: for instance, arrive at a formula for balancing the three formats and dare the board to not implement it. Their first round of suggestions included creating a pool of bowlers, and regardless of the constraints on their time as individuals, these advisors will require to put pressure where necessary to follow-up. Dravid's interaction with the juniors will provide insight into why the bulk of India's best young players veer off the course in their mid-20s.

Familiar obstacles remain. Given that bowlers are the most susceptible to injury because of heavy workloads and poor management, it is ironic that the BCCI's new advisors are batsmen. This is because the relationship between the board, whether led by Srinivasan or Dalmiya, and Indian cricket's No. 1 bowler, Anil Kumble, remains frosty.

While Kumble serves as head of the BCCI's technical committee which has proposed several changes to India's domestic structure, his experience in cricket administration lies well ahead of that of any of his equally illustrious team-mates. His skills at the moment are under-utilised by the BCCI, the original flashpoint being a three-year old dispute over Kumble's plans for the National Cricket Academy when serving as its chairman. This particular water has not been able to flow under that particular bridge and the NCA remains a creaking vessel. Kumble's considerable abilities are instead used by the Ambani conglomerate to overseee the implementation of "Vision for Reliance Sports". The mind boggles.

Regardless of new-age announcements, the old BCCI is still around and kicking. Irrelevant officials can still edge their way into board meetings featuring serious discussion because Ganguly, Tendulkar and Laxman are in attendance. Manager roles continue to be handed out as favours. There is little clarity about whether the team's support staff will continue in office, and if so until when, and about whether India will have a new coach or go with team director Shastri instead.

Expecting professional appointments, independent directors or sudden transparency is perhaps wildly optimistic but the fact is that this change of guard has taken place in the wake of a controversy that immeasurably damaged the BCCI's reputation. It has also left the board open to the scrutiny of the Supreme Court; the court's Lodha Committee has the powers to order a complete administrative overhaul of the BCCI and turn it upside down and inside out. Right now, Dalmiya and Thakur need all the brownie points they can collect.

As journalists, we are easy to please. When the chief of selectors turned up to discuss his panel's choices, there was much appreciation. An open media session with players before the team left for Bangladesh almost got a standing ovation. Quotes on Twitter, newsbreaks on email? Has Christmas - or Diwali - come early? Making up with CSA; a bear hug for Bangladesh; Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman on board; contracts for women cricketers; and assistance to Nepal. These are mighty fine steps.

But as "Sundance" Kohli will say, let's see some results.