There are many things that have come out of this Greg chappel - Sourav issue. What I find is that all those who are involved have crossed their 'Rights'.
- It is not within chappel's right to ask sourav to step down as captain. Personal advices are allowed, provided there is a bit of intimacy. It is apparent that there is no intimacy as sourav
goes to media discussing about someone asking him to step down as captain. And when there is no such intimacy, things have to be official and it hasnt been. It either had to be official or personal. There is no middle line. - It is not within the rights of the media to publish things that are supposed to be personal. Reach does not imply 'right'. It is high time the press realizes that there is something called as social responsibility. The issue comming public has caused a very sensitive situation. We all know that greg chappel can be right. But that doesnt mean we have to give in for a new comer against sourav whom we have know for years and who has done well for us in the past. What is the stand that we take?? Difficult decision ...
- From where did Harbajhan come into picture? Why does he have to comment on the issue?? This is not right ...
- Last but not the least, the cause of all the issues - Sourav Ganguly. We all know he is never right. I respect him as a good leader. But as a player he has gone below standards. He had been a great player. We do not need players. We need only performers. And we know he has not been performing. If he had been performing such an ironic scenario would not have come up.
Now that this issue has come public, it is very clear that it has to be either sourav or chappel (If at all things work out smoothly we can only be happy). There is one more option - neither sourav nor chappel. The ball is in BCCI's court and lets see whether the right is justified ...
(I know i cannot be right in all my view points ... Its only my perspective ... )
Who is right and who is wrong is a debatable issue. But, if sourav is scrutinized time and again, then there is something wrong with the outlook of the onlookers. One thing that beats me straight out of the gut is whether people are inclined towards Team India or Dada. Before sourav took the helm, indians were considered to be born loosers. Dont give Titan Cup as an example! Consistency! they reached almost all the finals they have played in any tournament and won atleast 40% of the matches. If a project is doing well, the project manager of the team plays THE role though you have extraordinary developers and techies. Similarly, if you want to groom a team, captain is the man and i believe sourav lived upto the mark! Sack sourav as captain. Forget Indian Cricket team. Guyz! Pakistan series, Australian series, World cup and many examples to pin point on! u talk abt his batting. Huh! fastest to reach 10k runs, No indian captain has ever struck a balance between captaincy and the game's expertise like batting or bowling! I am afraid India is going down the drain if the very thought of sacking sourav predominates all the thought process!!!
ReplyDeleteSandy ... i know you are a hard core dada fan ... but the situation now is different ... there is lot more happening than cricket... Lets get open minded ... Steve waugh gets sacked ... Wasim gets sacked ... Next in list is sourav .. but with one exeption ... he will come back (or atleast hope he comes back)
ReplyDeletehi,
ReplyDeletehey good to know that you have started blogging. you are pretty good in writing. as the topic is not my cup of tea, i can't discuss on it.... but i don't think press has done wrong in publicing the issue. after all, you know how much cricket means to indians and when such a controversial issue comes up related to cricket, there can't be any better chance for the media to make money than this.
Keep blogging
Smile
Suresh
I think that you are "right" that some things were not done in the "right" way. Sadly, however, a man like Greg Chappell, at least since he retired from playing, has been outspoken like this on a regular basis, and has caused many large controversies. Two big ones spring to mind instantly - his spat with Rod Marsh that led Marsh to become a coach with the England cricket team, and his spat with David Hookes. Greg Chappell is one of these people who never quite achieved what he wanted to achieve, and he is disappointed about it. When he was a player, he was never the number 1 ranked player in the world - because the likes of Viv Richards were there to stop him. Australia, in spite of having a good team, were always 2nd, 3rd or even 4th best in the world, always behind West Indies, and sometimes also Pakistan and England. Greg Chappell did finally manage to be the highest run scorer in Australian cricket history, which was his biggest achievement, but that effort was wiped out just a few years later by Allan Border, and indeed it was only in his last year in the team that he passed Donald Bradman. Greg Chappell was also never regarded as being as good a captain as his older brother Ian Chappell. All of these things weighed heavily on his mind, and created great bitterness. This is why he took up coaching almost immediately after he left cricket. He wanted to achieve something that he was never able to achieve as a player. He wanted to coach Australia's national team from nothing to being world champions. That was his goal.
ReplyDeleteGreg Chappell thought that training Australia's under 19 team, or being involved in youth development and A sides, and in the Cricket Academy would help to raise his profile, but the result was that it just made him anonymous. It was only through his fight with fellow director Rod Marsh that his profile was raised.
So Greg Chappell started to speak out about things. He talked about what was wrong with the Australian team. He talked about players not retiring. He criticised Mark Taylor for staying on well beyond when he needed to. He criticised Allan Border who retired and then changed his mind 4 times. Yet people pointed out that when Greg Chappell retired, he did so on the same day as Dennis Lillee and another of Australia's good batsmen, which created a huge hole in Australian cricket for the next 4 or 5 years. In other words, Chappell got his retirement date completely wrong. In the end, Chappell retired for personal reasons - he waited until he had beat Bradman's record, and then left the team. He ultimately didn't care if his leaving hurt the Australian team. All that he cared about was himself.
Greg Chappell for a long time was ignored, but then in 1998 he was given the job of coaching South Australia, his home state. South Australia then were almost the best state in Australia, having 2 players in the Australian team in Jason Gillespie and Greg Blewett, and 3 or 4 who were fringe players, and they were poised to win the national competitions, if they had a good enough coach.
But Greg Chappell failed in the worst way possible. He divided the team, caused players to be out of form, some people even resigned because of him, and the side itself was left bitterly unbalanced. He criticised a long-serving South Australian who had been in the team for over 21 years, for playing for another country internationally, and caused him to retire in disgust at Chappell's methods. And the end result was that South Australia finished last and 2nd last in the competitions while he coached.
Greg Chappell was finally fired as coach, and that seemed to be the end of that.
Then he took to criticising international teams, making special mention of bad captains. He highlighted Andy Flower of Zimbabwe and Sourav Ganguly of India as players who he felt should be sacked. Ganguly was so enraged at this that he went to talk to Chappell about it in 2003, and then publicly they made up and Chappell even ended up giving Ganguly tips which led to him returning to form.
Getting an international coach is not always a bad thing, but it must be someone who has some kind of tie to the country. What tie does Greg Chappell have?
Dav Whatmore of course has a tie, and would have been a good choice. Tom Moody is just simply a brilliant coach.
But the obvious choice of course shouldn't have been Greg Chappell. It should have been Steve Waugh. And, once Chappell goes, I hope that the BCCI do the right thing and give Steve a call. I am sure he would love to do it.