Ganguly gets support, from Poms!

Not everyone is climbing aboard the 'Ganguly left me to eat by myself and I was sh#t scared' bandwagon. Angus Fraser has some nice things to say about him and in fact goes as far as to say that while he is confident that Ganguly will lead India against England, he is not sure if Chappell will still be coach.

Flintoff's diatribe in his autobiography, accusing Ganguly of not being professional, has drawn a response from Glamorgan's chairman. He reckons that Flintoff's views are quite contrary to Ganguly's behaviour while playing for Glamorgan this year. This is what Paul Russel has to say about Ganguly:

"Ganguly is an outstanding professional who settled into the team and worked hard on and off the field. He always came to team practice on time and did whatever he was told to do. He was very regular for training. I personally drove him to the gym when he had joined us. There was never any attitude problem and he was very positive. We still discuss about him. I am surprised at the comments made by Flintoff. In fact, we have the opposite image of Ganguly of what Flintoff has written. There was no hint of anything of what Flintoff has said. He was very friendly with the other team members and used to often go out with them for dinner."

Perhaps we do need to pick on the fact that Ganguly thought he was royalty and hence asked Glamorgan's chief to drive him to the gym!

Labels: ganguly v chappell

Thus spake Jagadish @ 8:50 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Media gag order only applicable to players and coach?

The declaration by the BCCI President that players and the coach will not talk to the media about the Greg Chappell-Sourav Ganguly spat effectively means that while the main protagonists (or antagonists) in the whole situation are forced to stay mum, everyone else around them, such as BCCI functionaries, can have a field day.

The team manager in Zimbabwe, Amitabh Choudhary has now revealed to the Indian Express that Chappell, Ganguly, Dravid and he had decided to keep the issue of Chappell asking Ganguly to quit. He now chides Ganguly for going public with the story.

When he was asked about whether he thought Ganguly's tantrums and uppishness had irritated the coach, his reply was "Maybe". Aha! So he too feels that Ganguly did threw tantrums and generally acted like a prick boor! One by one the skeletons come out.

Labels: bcci, ganguly v chappell

Thus spake Jagadish @ 3:50 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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When a man is down ...

Kick him, and kick him real hard. The first set of skeletons spills out of the cupboard following the on-going drama in Indian cricket as Andrew Flintoff, basking in the glory of an Ashes win, spills the beans in his to-be-release autobiography about Ganguly being a 'royal' pain.

Fair enough, Freddie. It is no-one's case that Ganguly is an angel. His stint at Lancashire certainly did not earn him too many friends. Perhaps it maybe more relevant to ask those who played alongside Sourav Ganguly at Glamorgan earlier this year. Your experience with playing alongside Ganguly was in 2000.

After all, five years is a long time in cricket, as you've found out for yourself over the same period.

Labels: autobiography, ganguly v chappell

Thus spake Jagadish @ 12:27 pm | Sledge/Read 6 sledge(s)
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Compromise, consensus or come-down?

The meeting convened by the BCCI's review committee to go into the coach v captain issue has just ended. This is what the sequence of events has resulted in: (my comments in italics)

1. Cricket needs to go forward.
   
2. The coach and captain need to work it out mutually and maintain a professional relationship. (So what was the need for the committee to take this issue up if the captain and coach need to work it out mutually in a professional manner?)
   
3. The captain, coach and players will be judged on their performance (Was the criteria different previously? Why?)
   
4. No player (including the captain) or coach will interact with the media. Anyone flouting this will be taken to task (Total gag order. No post-match presentation ceremonies or press conferences? This is the 1975 Emergency re-enacted)
   
5. Interests of Indian cricket need to be kept in mind (Why not keep in mind the best interests of Singapore cricket?)
   
6. There has been some miscommunication regarding faking of injuries and whatever was stated was far from the truth (Ergo, Chappell lied when he said that Ganguly was faking an injury in the warm-up game. Isn't that a huge thing to reveal about the man you picked as a national coach? If Chappell has any self-respect, he will quit)
   
7. The coach and captain have assured the board that they will work together in the interest of Indian cricket (Is it in their best interest to do so? What about personal agendas?)
   
8. The difference in roles between the captain and the coach is demarcated. We can't throw light on that. (We do not currently have a torchlight available to shed light on that. Alwarpet Aandavas Cricket Club has approached the Madras High Court today with a stay-order to prevent us from shedding any light on any matter, including our elections.)
   
9. They are confident that they will do it. Both coach and captain are happy with the arrangement and the committee is confident of them working together. (We are one big happy family. Can we please go for a group photograph? Ganguly interjects, no pool table photos this time!)

And you guys waited for this? Did we expect anything different?

Labels: chappell, ganguly v chappell

Thus spake Jagadish @ 6:45 pm | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
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Iconoclast, eccentric or visionary?

Today's meeting convened by the BCCI to talk to Sourav Ganguly and Greg Chappell in the light of the events of the last week is under a cloud. Ganguly's grandfather passed away while Sunil Gavaskar, one of the members of the panel, may not make it because his father is unwell.

Even as members of the cricketing community in India, administrators and players, cast aspersions on either of the protagonists in this whole drama, it is perhaps telling that the players are themselves divided over the issue. While Harbhajan's outburst was typical of the man, several others are content to voice their views while remaining unnamed.

Players' complaints about Greg Chappell centre around his apparently abrasive way of talking, functioning and the strict standards he has set. Chappell, either because he cares for Indian cricket or because he wants his resume to look nice, has an agenda, "a commitment to excellence". Those who picked him as India's coach, and indeed those who publicly backed him, obviously bought in to his vision and agenda for change.

While Chappell's move to ask Ganguly to step aside on the eve of a test match is certainly questionable, what cannot be questioned or termed "over the top" is his intent at getting this lot to improve, by leaps and bounds.

Chappell's email to the BCCI office-bearers, aside from a non-office bearer in Jagmohan Dalmiya, was either leaked to the media by him or by one of the recipients. Now he is either public enemy number one, or public hero number one. While tags of that nature are ephemeral, we ought to now wonder if Greg Chappell is the iconoclast who dares to think of perestroika. Is he the eccentric determined to think differently and shake Indian cricket by the roots? Today's eccentric could end up becoming tomorrow's visionary. But for that to happen, there must be results. Thomas Alva Edison was an eccentric, but he was more importantly a visionary because he was able to make his inventions and thinking work and change our lives, for the better.

Even as the BCCI fights battles with itself, and with the judiciary, on a simple matter such as holding an election, you can't help feeling for both Chappell and Ganguly. Ganguly's abrasive methods of working, in the early part of his career, rubbed several people the wrong way. He was actually partially successful at reviving Indian cricket from the lows of the match-fixing scandal. His unflinching support of youth, and the mistakes they made, made him the darling of his teammates, and indeed most followers of Indian cricket. But that was only as long as the results were there to be shown. It is perhaps not a coincidence that Ganguly's slide as a batsman coincided with the Indian team's downhill descent from the heights of the 2003 World Cup. Perhaps it was vice-versa.

Should Indian cricket pick one over the other? Or will there be a temporary truce wherein Chappell stays and Ganguly is given a deadline to shape up or be shipped out? If indeed one of them went, then would it hurt Indian cricket? If Chappell was asked to leave, how would it reflect on the functioning of the team and the administrators? Would anyone else offer to coach the team, knowing well that he could meet the same fate? If Ganguly was asked to leave, how would those in the team, who have sided with Ganguly, react to (the obvious candidate) Dravid taking over? Wouldn't Dravid inherit a fractured team? How good can that be to Indian cricket?

Labels: bcci, chappell, ganguly v chappell

Thus spake Jagadish @ 9:05 am | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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The excreta hits the roof

After letting the media know what was on between the coach and himself, now Ganguly does not want the team to be dragged into the on-going rift. When the coach and captain are literally fighting between themselves, isn't it absurd to ask the team to be kept out of the tussle?

Chappell's email to the board has once again stirred up the controversies which seemed to have ended when both Ganguly & Chappell posed together at the pool table for lensmen at Harare. The email though was leaked and not surprisingly, there were multiple versions of what Chappell wrote. Essentially it did boil down to complaints about the captain's attitude. Chappell was very unhappy that the content was leaked. But it is all plain and obvious now. The entire running content of the email has been publicised.

Till yesterday all the reports that came out looked like pointing fingers at Ganguly, his attitude and his form. Now we realise that there are 2 teams within the team with most of the players backing their captain. In fact Harbhajan, who is known for talking openly, has come out publicly and has supported Ganguly by accusing Chappell and his methods.

To sort out this issue and to look forward to a better future for Indian cricket, a review committee comprising of Jagmohan Dalmiya, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, SK Nair, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri & Srinivas Venkatraghavan would meet and discuss along with meeting Ganguly & Chappell to hear their versions and then arrive at a final verdict.

Doesn't it look like adios, but it could boil down to Indian cricket choosing between a SCG (Sourav Chandidas Ganguly) and a GSC (Gregory Stephen Chappell).

Labels: chappell, ganguly v chappell

Thus spake Ganesh @ 9:31 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Chappell turns on the heat

Yesterday, India defeated Zimbabwe in the Harare test to win the series. The test match win took a while to come, as Zimbabwe, aided by some horrible catching, fielding and bowling, recovered from 42/5 and 85/6 to reach 223 and thus made India bat for a second time. Zimbabwe's total of 223 was largely due to a 120 run stand between Masakadza, who made 71, and Blignaut, who blitzed his way to an unbeaten 84. India won by ten wickets and nearly two and a half days to spare.

This test series win, on the other hand, has been sixteen years in the making. After India beat England in England in 1986 under Kapil Dev, this was the first time an Indian team had won a test series outside the sub-continent.

Under most circumstances, the Indian team, and followers/fans of Indian cricket, would have been rejoicing at finally getting the monkey off their backs and being the general object of derision across the cricketing world. But, not after the unhappy events in the past week.

In a further twist, Indian coach Greg Chappell has apparently dashed off an e-mail to the BCCI President where he has made it clear that he does not think Sourav Ganguly is the right person to lead the Indian team because of Ganguly's fitness, attitude and form.

This is a fall-out of the happenings during the first test against Zimbabwe when Ganguly hinted that Chappell had asked him to step aside, both as captain and as a team member, in order to provide opportunities to the likes of Yuvraj and Kaif who were in better form than he was. Subsequently, a temporary truce was reached with the coach issuing a statement implying that it was just a honest discussion and that he greatly appreciated Ganguly's contribution to Indian cricket. Of course, Chappell did not say that he had changed his opinion on Ganguly's position vis-a-vis the ideal team composition.

Yesterday, after the game ended, Chappell mentioned the need to build up to winning the 2007 World Cup. In this context, he dropped enough hints to indicate that Ganguly and a few other players, possibly referring to Nehra and Zaheer, were not in his scheme of things.

It will take time to develop a team and I suppose a decision has to be taken on which of the senior players are most likely to last and be potent enough that long. There are some things which are non-negotiable. Fielding and fitness are two of them. Unfortunately, players would not find it any easier. Guys who are buying into it are going ahead and those who are not buying into it will find themselves by the wayside.

We have been extremely supportive of Ganguly's contribution to the Indian team as captain over the last half-decade. We've argued for retaining him in the team and as captain even as his form suffered in the last year and more. In fact, we even supported the BCCI selectors' move to name him captain for the Zimbabwe tour although Dravid had skippered in Sri Lanka, including a couple of games where Ganguly played under Dravid.

However, if the coach's pronouncements on Ganguly's attitude towards his game, his fitness, the team etc. are right, then I think it is time for Ganguly to be left out. Perhaps not forever, because I still think he is good enough. But certainly for a period of time sufficient enough for him to realize his faults and mend them. He has never been the greatest fielder or runner. It would be impossible to make him field like Yuvraj or Kaif. But he has to meet the bare minimum requirements for a spot in the side.

As Chappell implies, while you may not be able to bowl or bat well, you must show your inclination and ability to field well and be fit. Bowling and batting are essentially individualistic means of expression. Fielding is not. When you bat or bowl, the runs and wickets accrue against your name and the team's. But when you field well, you are contributing to your stats, your team's achievements and helping a teammate get a wicket or concede less runs. That is the essence of a team game. Ergo, if you do not even take the effort to improve your fielding skills, you do not want to play for the team and are thus a misfit in such a scenario.

Ganguly is not old, even by England's strict benchmarks. He can still comeback, perhaps not as captain. I still believe he has a lot more to offer to Indian cricket and that it isn't yet sunset time for him. I'd rather that Indian cricket did not cast away a decade of investment and experience. But if Ganguly does come back, it will have to be on the basis of his improved attitude, fitness and form. Those three are non-negotiable as well, in my opinion.

Time to temporarily ride off into the sunset, Dada. But it isn't the end. If you do come back, you have a lot more to offer!

Labels: bcci, chappell, ganguly v chappell

Thus spake Jagadish @ 4:20 pm | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
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Greg v Gang?

The Deep Throat who asked Ganguly to step down, seems to be one Mr. Gregory Stephen Chappell, the coach of the Indian team. Cricinfo has put some pieces of the jigsaw together and has an interesting story. It is also backed up with some solid statistics.

Is the sun really setting on Sauravda ? Would it be better if he left the stage with the little grace left after this episode ? The coach and the captain being at loggerheads is never good to any team. In particular, an Indian team can never cope with it as the media is always around them making mountains out of mole-hills.

By the way, would John Wright have said the same thing to Ganguly if he had continued? Or, did he opt out due to a cold war with the captain?

With these controversies, rumours abounded that Chappell would resign as coach. But, thankfully, Greg put a firm fullstop to all those in a statement from Harare.

Labels: chappell, ganguly v chappell

Thus spake Ganesh @ 11:54 pm | Sledge/Read 3 sledge(s)
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India wins on the field, but..

After Sehwag, Gambhir & Dravid in the practice game, it was the turn of Laxman & Ganguly to get hundreds as India defeated Zimbabwe by an innings and 90 runs with more than one-and-a-half days to spare at Bulawayo.

Actually, India started off pretty shoddily and let the hosts score end the first day at 265/7. Irfan Pathan, who ended up with 5/58, did a far better job on the second day by wrapping up the remaining wickets. Sehwag & Gambhir started off briskly but couldn't make the big scores, both were out in the 40s. Dravid batted with great authority but missed out on a century. VVS Laxman then showed his class, admittedly against very mediocre bowling. Ganguly plodded along to 23 while Laxman was unbeaten on 125 at stumps.

Laxman looked set for a big score, he was run out (by Ganguly) for 140. Yuvraj did nothing to dispell the popular belief that Kaif had been hard done by. Karthick, who will soon start feeling the heat from Dhoni's explots in one-dayers, too fell cheaply. Pathan joined the skipper and made a good half-century. Meanwhile, Ganguly plodded on, playing scratchily most of the time. Spinners of the calibre of Ewing and Dabenga were treated with great respect, as is evident from his scoring rates of 2.09 and 1.85 per over against them.

Ultimately he did get to his century, his first in tests since the brilliant century at the Gabba in 2003. The very next ball, he got out. Thanks to Harbhajan's fireworks towards the end, India ended up with 554 and they had got just 17.2 overs to bowl for the day and Pathan inflicted some serious damage to Zimbabwe's top order this time around and Zimbabwe were reeling at 67/6 at stumps. Harbhajan, after picking up his 200th test wicket at the fag end of the previous day's play, cleaned up the tail, aside from an embarassing last wicket partnership. Pathan's 9 wickets in the game, and his half-century made him the the obvious choice for Man of the match. For Zimbabwe, Taibu displayed consistency as usual and got to 50+ scores in both the innings with the debutant Duffin scoring a 50 in the first innings.

Harbhajan became the fastest Indian to take 200 Test wickets and he feels that he is a better bowler now than that series - just because he took 4 Zimbabwean wickets ?

Irrespective of the opposition, it was never a convincing hundred by Ganguly, but Laxman's was. Laxman looked like getting his form and touch back, but Ganguly didn't and he also queered the pitch by announcing to the media that 'someone' wanted him to resign from captaincy just before the start of the Test. There is still a lot of speculation about who Indian cricket's version of 'Deep Throat' is. Ganguly has also decided to keep his mouth shut now after the match is over and has just praised the bowlers' effort in the victory though he could have given a few more overs to Pathan to help him get his 10-fer.

As many feel, even I think that Ganguly should have kept his mouth shut from the very beginning. Anand Vasu rightly says

Prince of Calcutta, we've come to expect more of you. Don't sell yourself so short. And if you must, don't drag the team down with you.

Labels: ganguly v chappell

Thus spake Ganesh @ 11:20 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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