> Ganguly vs Chappell Fiasco - Who needs to be blamed and why?

While sourav has been selected in the Indian test side, it now transpires that things may not still be right at the top of Indian cricket.
While Greg chappell came up with strong accusations against sourav 1 year back in his infamous letter to the then management of BCCI, and which were subsequently accepted prima facia not perhaps for all cricketing reasons or for the true judgment that a coach has formed of a player, but perhaps for the non cricketing reasons of politics which has forever haunted the indian cricket.

Lets so into some facts.
Greg Chappell formed an opinion about Sourav after watching him play in 4 ODI matches and 2 tests. Among those sourav hit a hundred(against zimbawe but how many present players have even managed that) and gave decent scores in two of the ODIs. That his attitude was used as a pretext for bad performance is as hollow a claim as greg himself is.
Lets look at whats going on at present.
Kaif has since that time, had the distinction of 3 consecutive ducks, 7 continuous bad matches. Sehwag has been playing his natural game and continues to say he will irrespective of what happens. That the coach didn't find this attitude wrong is baffling to say the least. If performance was the criteria, then the performance of half the Indian team has been so despicable that all of them should have been dropped. Indeed if the same yardsticks are applied that were applied to Ganguly, we won't have any players to select from. But no they have not been applied! which begs the question of what is the plan for Indian cricket.
Excuses come readily, to quote greg chappell "I am inculcating a "process" which may take 5 or more years to show results." Such absurd arguments go onto show the absurdity thats plaguing Indian cricket. There is little doubt that Chappell doesn't want to do things "the other way" He has come to India to do things "his way" (My way is the highway if greg is to be believed) It doesn't matter what happens in between. Of course it doesn't matter if it turns out to be a highway at all. After all, to use an analogy, the money for the highway has been paid, whether it turns out to be a village road, is frankly a worker problem, not the engineers".

Another frivolous argument making the rounds is that India never did do any better abroad so why blame Greg. Well cos you were selected to make India do better. If we were to continue on with the past record, why pay you a couple of million, we could have managed the same with some local. This argument of course brings a reply that enough time has not been given. Another absurdity! Wasn't it you who formed the opinion on players as quickly as in 4-5 matches, Wasn't it you who passed the judgment on Dravid as one who will rise to be the greatest Indian captain ever born(at his book release function), wasn't it you who were the first to do a bhangra and openly take credit for the new way of thinking in Indian team, of saying that insecurity breeds success and that youth is the way for future(ofcourse carried along with some seniors who would at best obey your line or were indifferent/too great to obey any line from anyone. That you said all that and as soon as the team starts doing badly, you fall back on the pretext of not enough time, is at best a lame excuse for your own failure.

Fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, Indian public memory isquite short. So no one remembers how badly you played before you were dropped or how well you played before, as long as you do well now. No this doesn't mean that they expect you to win all the time, but they expect you to fight and show the grit atleast. 2 years back in Australia, we showed that and the Indian public embraced the players. Can we say the same thing about this team now. Far from the killer instinct, the team hasn't even competed. Its but obvious that questions and hard questions at that, will now be asked about the coach, the captain and the players who were to lead Indian cricket. No longer can we allow absurdity and time be pretexts for bad performance.



"Good till he plays" - Greg Cahppell on Sourav's return

Good till you win coach!



(Views expressed are completely my own. You might disagree and if you do, remember that disagreement is the first step in the ladder to greatness. Where disagreement is not allowed, you face what the Indian team is facing)