Team India coach: Much ado about nothing

When Shane Warne said the only coach he needed was the vehicle that took the team from hotel to ground, he was not just taking a swipe at John Buchanan. It was actually an Ian Chappell chesnut and the brouhaha over Team India's new coach has again irked Chappelli.

Chappell warns India should not simply crush the new coach with the burden of expectations. A reneissance can come only via "proud and spirited players" led by a "strong coach", he asserts.

Sanjay Manjrekar, one of the rare sane voice in the mad melee, harps on the same issue. Coach has a very limited role to play and it's the players who would have to go out and actually play.

I think Greg Chappell's tenure proved the point beyond doubt. Chappell exceeded brief and encouraged by the coy captain in Rahul Dravid, he became larger than the coach. And it clearly backfired.

Chappell was calling the shots in each and every aspect and Dravid's diminishing stature, especially among the senior teammates, undermined his authority. Chappell did tried some new ideas but his growing stature came in the way of its fruition.

Chappell succeeded in convincing Irfan Pathan that he could bat. And every time Irfan scored, Chappell got unfair share of the kudos. By that time, the coach had outgrown the players, and it was never going to augur well for Team India.

Ian Chappell cries hoars to convince us that coach's can be instrumental behind a revival of fortune but they can't be the instrument. He cited the best example of John Buchanan.

Buchanan's exit did not make Australia a weaker side but if Ricky Ponting is not able to skipper the side, it would well create a problem, he said.

BCCI roped in Chandu Borde to prolong the stop-gap arrangement first made for the Bangladesh tour. Hoping the septuagenarian to free Team India of all its ills would be unfair and brickbats or bouquets -- depending on how the side fare in England -- should be addressed to Dravid and Co. only.

Image: PTI

Gallant losers and timid victors

(Architects of a hard-earned win. AFP Photo)


There ought to be some other means of reckoning quality in this the best and loveliest of games; the scoreboard is an ass -- Neville Cardus.

Since David slew Goliath, and in cricket since India won the 1983 World Cup, we sided with the underdogs. And today’s India-Bangladesh match was another occasion when you felt more for the gallant losers, than their timid victors.

The victory margin of five-wicket win could not have been more misleading. It hid as much, if not more, as it revealed.

Did it say how master strategist Dav Whatmore, before changing camp, outwitted a shrewd Ravi Shastri? Or did it say about Tamim’s youthful arrogance, Saqibul’s nonchalance, Omar’s grit and Ashraful’s blooming personality.

Nor did it say how Mahendra Singh Dhoni braved cramps and limped on and on but stayed there till his side was through. Similarly, Dinesh Kaarthick was worth far more than his 58 runs. There was a time when India had to place Dravid behind the stumps to accommodate an extra bat/bowler. And here you have two wicketkeepers in the side, both capable of walking into the squad purely as a batsman.

But take Dhoni and Karthick away, India cut a sorry figure in the match. After losing the top half of their batting order for 144, it seemed another upset win was on the cards. Dhoni and Kaarthick, however, had other ideas and they carried out the bail-out act with aplomb.

The win notwithstanding, Team India has more questions than answers now. Why is it so that the more it craves for change, the same it remains?

Men in Blue: Unpaid, under-performed?

Maybe here you have the real reason behind Team India’s string of flop shows starting with the Champions Trophy and culminating – hopefully -- in the World Cup.

According to reports, the outrageously cash-rich BCCI, the richest cricket body under the sun, has not paid its players for the last seven months!

A high-handed BCCI has reduced cricket to an unorganized sector in the country, not allowing unions and arbitrary deciding fate of the players . The board simply doesn’t accept the existence of the Indian Cricket Players` Association, even though ICPA too has its share of blame. Envious of the players’ earnings, board officials make snide off-the-record remarks, plant stories in the media and harangue about performance-based payments.

Consider this. The Men in Blue remains unpaid since last year’s Champions trophy. Since then, they have toured South Africa, hosted Sri Lanka and West Indies before travelling to the Caribbeans for the world Cup, all unpaid.

Its overflowing coffers notwithstanding, BCCI has been an Uncle Scrooge when it came to making payment. And this was not the only occasion.

Andrew Leipus, the team’s former physiotherapist, was not paid for the last five months of his tenure, while the affable John Wright remained unpaid for seven months in 2004. BCCI took almost a year to pay the Rs 50 lakh bonus to Team India after their series win in Pakistan.

And this is after BCCI pocketed $612 million selling TV rights for next four years, adding to its annual income of $300 million dollar.

As usual, BCCI downplayed the issue and its publicity-hungry Vice President Rajiv Shukla said, “The payments were not made because the contracts were not ready. Once the contracts are signed, everything will be cleared. This is not a problem at all.”

Senior cricketers are fuming but the World Cup debacle and the Board’s gag order has forced them to maintain the mum.

ICC sees Team India as the Men in Green!

(Malcolm Speed, tough times ahead)

The BCCI and the ICC seem on yet another collision course. And this time, what got BCCI’s goat, cow and the entire cattle is the fact that the ICC sold green-coloured (!) Team India jerseys and caps as official merchandise during the Caribbean World Cup.

BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah is just nursing his sore throat after threatening a no-confidence motion against ICC CEO Malcolm Speed and Co and this new development is likely to add fire to fuel in the ICC Executive Board meeting in June.

Like Shah, board’s chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty is also not amused by the ICC goof-up.

"We first heard about the t-shirts from some Indian fans who had come from England. Then we saw them ourselves… India t-shirts and caps, with the BCCI logo, in parrot green colour. We saw them in Barbados as well as Jamaica. What's more, each t-shirt was being sold at $160 each.

We have bought some t-shirts and caps. We will discuss the issue with (marketing committee chairman) Lalit Modi and decide the future course of action,” Shetty said.

Rebel without a pause, BCCI, however, can’t be blamed in this case and it would be intriguing to know what led ICC to believe that the Men in Blue are a bunch of champion chameleons who change colours so often.

One explanation could be that the ICC wanted to give the Indians an eco-friendly look. Or they tried to convey the message that the cash-rich players were envy -- that green-eyed monster -- of fellow cricketers. I’m ready even to accept that ICC considered Dravid & Co as the top draws, the Green Buck. One final assumption – ICC decided India and Pakistan share boundary, culture, history. Why not a colour?

Sachin twists ankle, Laxman down with gastroenteritis

Nothing is going right for poor Sachin Tendulkar these days. On the first day of Team India’s Kolkata camp ahead of Bangladesh tour, Sachin gave the side an injury scare when he sprained his right ankle.

Team management insisted, it’s not serious enough. Physio John Gloster was quick to rush and after some treatment, Sachin was seen limping off the Eden Gardens.

Sachin reportedly twisted his ankle while negotiating a Sreesanth bouncer.

Poor World Cup form, clamour for his retirement, tri-colour cake controversy and then “rested” (read dropped) from the ODI squad and then this injury. Things could not have been worse for Sachin.

Meanwhile, VVS Laxman failed to report for the Kolkata camp after being down with gastroenteritis.

The Shit Midas!

Historic Test win in West Indies, record number of successful chases in ODIs…still Greg Chappell is not my man with the Midas Touch.

To be honest, I didn’t like him and it’s not so much about cricket, as much as culture. A cultural clash to be precise. And in such clashes, no one is right or wrong. It’s just a matter of liking and disliking. From that point of view, I dislike Greg but that doesn’t mean I’m right and he’s wrong.

Now that he’s no more the Team India coach, I embark on an obit of his first international coaching career.

I think Greg is cursed. An exceptional batsman with a ton in both his debut and swansong Tests, centuries in each innings of his debut as captain and an average of 53.86. The tragedy, however, is that the lone lingering memory of his playing days was when he came forward to advice his younger brother Trevor to bowl under-arm in the third final of the 1981 World Series Cup.

I was watching the tapes again. New Zealand needed six off the last ball to tie, and not win, the match and Greg appeared to order his brother Trevor not just to tell him bowl an under-arm delivery, but also demonstrated it how to do. Rod Marsh was shamed to death behind the stumps and screamed “No! No!”. What followed was one of the darkest chapters in the game’s history.

Even when Greg took over as Team India coach, he brought the same jinx. It was jackpot for someone who had no prior experience of coaching any international side when Greg was selected as Team India coach and it’s well-documented that Sourav Ganguly’s backing made all the difference, even though key panelist Sunil Gavaskar voted against the Australian.

Soon after the honeymoon period was over, what followed was the Greg vs Ganguly saga, which I think is another cultural clash. Gratitude is considered a virtue in Indian society, while the Aussies perceive it as a hindrance to professionalism. A way could have been found to deal the issue but that needed both parties to concede some grounds. And Greg’s media manipulation – so many instances to cite – made things worse.

He would leak things to his selective friends in the media and resorted to all sort of practices unbecoming of a coach.

While the Greg vs Ganguly broadside – it was one-way traffic with Ganguly maintaining deafening silence against Greg’s verbal diarrhea -- dominated the headlines, side-by-side went Greg vs Harbhajan, Greg vs Zaheer, Greg vs Yuvraj, Greg vs Sehwag, Greg vs Tendulkar, almost an unending list.

Even his holiday at Alappuzha landed the houseboat owner in trouble. I mean it was no way Chappell’s fault but the fact remains, wherever he goes, whatever he does, it has always kicked up a row and everything seems in mess.

Sick of clichés, I was trying neologism and that’s the gem I stumbled on, Shit Midas. Whenever Greg laid his fingers on something, it turned shit. You have Team India before you.

Pool lands Dhoni in deep water!

Stars are simply not in favour for star stumper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. After World Cup flop show and its sequel in the Twenty20 tournament, Mahi’s plan to have a swimming pool in his under-construction house at Ranchi’s Harmu Housing Colony lands him in deep water.

Earlier, a mob had attacked the under-construction building when Team India was knocked out of the World Cup.

Clearly not amused by their famous next-door neighbour’s plan, some people– including a retired IPS officer, an ex-colonel and a former Lieutenant Colonel – have approached the Ranchi Regional Development Authority (RRDA), complaining that the pool would deplete underground water level in the area and deprive them of potable water.

Dhoni is at his wit’s end thinking why these people are out to pour cold water on his pool plan!

Whatmore throws hat in fray, wants to coach India

After doing wonders with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the heavily mustachioed Dav Whatmore is now game for a stint with Team India.

"If the opportunity comes along surely any person who is a professional coach and prides himself in doing a good job would be interested in coaching the Indian team. If there is a position and an opportunity there, I will be very interested,” said the burly Colombo-born Australian.

Whatmore, a right hand bat, played just seven Tests besides his lone ODI appearance but then great players often cut sorry figure while trying their hand at coaching. Even the adamant Greg Chappell is likely to vouch for that.

Whatmore’s career as a coach is impressive, to say the least. He masterminded Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup triumph and has instilled a sense of pride among his Bangla wards, who knocked out India in the World Cup.

Unlike Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, India is a cricket crazy nation with everyone having an opinion on the game and the players have to shoulder huge burden of expectations. Whatmore, however, in undaunted by that prospect.

"Firstly any job is a challenge. I have taken up pretty good challenges in the last 10 years and this will be another big challenge. There is huge passion for the game in India. It is a big religion there and there is enormous pressure on the team,” he said.

Greg Chappell Snaps India Tie

Greg Chappell, undoubtedly the most controversial cricket coach, has just snapped his ties with Team India, citing "family and personal reasons."

Chappell has been at the eye of a storm after he accused senior players of behaving like "mafia" and even an otherwise reticent Sachin Tendulkar opened mouth against the coach.

"I am grateful to the players with whom I have worked in this time for the challenges that they presented me with and which I tried to meet in a professional, methodical and interesting way in the interests of the team and the individual," Chappell said in his letter.

Chappell had taken over from Kiwi John wright in 2005 and his contract expired with India's World Cup disaster.

BCCI Working Committee was to mee in Mumbai on April 6-7 to accept reports from the coach and team manager Sanjay Jagdale and determine Chappell's fate.

Is This Why India Lost World Cup?

So, Videocon did the unthinkable – withdrawing commercials featuring Team India flops Rahul Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. They have not terminated the contract though.

The consumer durable major felt at a time when the cricketers could not protect their personal reputations in the world Cup, expecting them to help sell their wares was just too much.

Meanwhile, check out the link to find out Why India Lost the World Cup.

Team India's Life After World Cup!

And if popular mood is allowed to decide their fate, this is where you would stumble on the Team India players in the future.

Anil Kumble



Zaheer Khan


Ajit Agarkar


Yuvraj Singh


Rahul Dravid




(Sachin Tendulkar)


Virender Sehwag


Sourav Ganguly

Robin Uthappa

Kumble bids adieu to ODI!

Men in Blue's World Cup misadventure claimed another casualty. Anil Kumble, after his yeoman service to Team India, has quit one day cricket. The leggie, however, would continue to play in the longer version of the game.

Though no formal announcement was made, Kumble reportedly took his teammates in confidence in Port of Spain and informed them about his decision.

Karnataka State Cricket Association will arrange for a formal announcement on his retirement in the next few days.

Team India gets Big B(oost) from Small B

Some pelted poor Zaheer Khan’s restaurant in Pune, some are plotting another attack at Dhoni’s under-construction house in Ranchi (a place known more, in the pre-Dhoni days, for curing insanity and not abetting). Some are busy burning effigies and pasting tarred posters, while a few others have already tonsured head and performed last rites for Indian cricket.

There are a few sugar-coated bitter truth Team India would do well to realise. The mass adulation, the hysteria, the hype and hoopla con them into believing that Team India has a fan base that far outnumbers many African countries. And that’s a mind-blowing myth.

Those who paint their cheeks, carry little national flags, wake up at the wee hours and stay glued to their TV sets, devour every cricket report and argue over the game with friends till they have a sour throat – they can mislead one to believe that they are Team India fans. Reality is, they are Successful Team India supporters.

They hail and hang cricketers with equal fervour and India’s World Cup misadventure once again created such a scenario.

It was, however, a welcome break when Abhishek Bachchan, whose apparently lone cricket connection is starring in a movie called RUN, came out in defence of the beleaguered team, which, given a choice, might prefer to settle in any Caribbean island of their choice.

The Small B said he was upset with the ouster but then the boys gave it their best, so what if they failed?

"I have faced failure. And I know it is difficult to go out there and perform." So now you know where those pearls of wisdom came from!

Chappell's Fate Hangs in Balance

He beat a star-studded field that included names like Mohinder Amarnath, Desmond Haynes and Tom Moody to win the Team India coach’s job in May 2005. BCCI roped him till the World Cup and thanks to the unceremonious exit of Rahul Dravid’s men, Greg Chappell’s career is at a crossroad. Moody – his team in Super Eight, carrying Asian hopes – can’t be blamed for a chuckle. A score is settled between two lanky Australians.

India’s worst World Cup campaign since 1979 has clearly put a question mark to Chappell’s career as coach. The towering Aussie earned less friends and more foes with his headstrong, straight-talking approach and no other cricket coach polarises opinion like him. You either like him or hate him.

Chappell’s first international coaching stint had its fare share of ups and downs and it’s difficult to say whether he failed or succeeded. At times, he seemed more gimmick than substance. Edward Bono’s thinking caps, paramilitary training, constant harping on having multi-dimensional cricketer, “reaching the Next Level” and “means-more-important-than-outcome” -- his coaching never lacked innovations. What was only lacking is the desired results.

It was understandable that Chappell was edgy in the press conference after India’s defeat against Sri Lanka last night.

Asked if he would like to continue as coach, Chappell’s terse reply was “This is not the time to talk about that.”

And he chose the occasion to air his dissent about team selection also.

“The fact of the matter was that we got the team that India wanted and we didn't perform when the time came. That's the long and the short of it. That is my answer. I'm not sure right at this time is the moment to try and dissect it.”

Reminded that over the last 17 matches overseas, India survived full 50 overs on just four occasions and Chappell was naturally not amused by the statistics.

Chappell was angered when a journalist asked if he was shrinking responsibilities.

“No I don't think so. I am not employed by you people, I am employed by the BCCI. Obviously, I will have to face up to them and give them a report and give them some indications of what I think. But I don't think this is the forum for me to say anything. “

And he was not ready to say whether his stress on process, more than outcome, had backfired.

“That's an inflammatory question and I'm not prepared to answer it,’’ he said.

And the only truth emanating from the press conference was when somebody asked what he was taking from this World Cup. “A lot of disappointment”, pat came Chappell’s response.

When Team India Became An Airlines Threat!

“Minnows” must be the most dreaded word for Team India players. But once Sehwag and Co. realized that the Bermudians had neither the guile nor the firepower to trouble them, it just rained – and I’m not talking about the drizzle that interrupted play for a few minutes last night – fours and sixes.

Statistics often make boring readings but number has its own charm as well. Apart from 30 boundaries, Indian batsmen heaved as many as 18 sixes yesterday, equalling South Africa's feat against Dutch in the same World Cup on March 16.

Sehwag, Yuvraj and Sachin treated Bermuda bowlers as cannon-fodder and created security threat for low-flying Air Jamaica planes with those sixes.

Meanwhile, Sourav Ganguly continues to intrigue me. I mean his new-found approach to batting, good or bad, makes me wonder is it the same shirt-swirling, combative cricketer who felt left-arm spinners simply had no business in one day cricket?

He insists paternity mellowed him down and he’s more in control of his nerves. Post-comeback, he’s more into playing the sheet anchor and trying to pace his innings. Yesterday, he narrowly missed the opportunity to become the first cricket to post 5 World Cup centuries.

But two more sixes in the match against Bermuda helped the southpaw became the second batsman, after Ricky Ponting (25 in 29 innings), to have recorded 25 sixes in the World Cup.

Spare A Thought For Manjural

All the hype and hoopla, fanfare and foofaraw, glitz and glamour – everything suddenly seemed trivial, lousy and even vulgar as 30 cricketers, of Indian and Bangladeshi origin, stood in silence near the boundary rope of the Queen’s Park Oval, thinking about the fragility of human life.

Instead of any war cry, there was this pall of gloom before the Group B opener in Port of Spain. Team India and the Bangla Tigers observed two minute’s silence to mourn the death of promising 22-year-old spinner Manjural Islam, who, along with his cricketer-friend, died in a road accident in Khulna yesterday.

Manjural was part of the original 30 World Cup probables but the left-arm spinner could not make the cut when the list was pruned to 15. So despite failing to be in the final 15, Manjural did make it to the Caribbean. Physically? No, but definitely in the minds of his former teammates and cricket colleagues.

India A No-Hoper in Warne's List!

Shane Warne feels Australia is heading for a World Cup hat-trick even though both Sri Lanka and New Zealand can push them hard. South Africa, according to him, is disciplined but regimented while England is the dark-horse of the tournament. What about Rahul Dravid and Co.? Team India can eat their heart out for they simply don't feature in Warne's list of title contenders!

Warne does not read too much into Australia's recent slump in form and says the Aussies have a great chance of completing the Cup hat-trick. In his column for "The Times", Warne dubbed old foe Muttiah Muralitharan and Daniel Vettori the best two spinners in the World Cup and is even impressed by Kiwi rookie Jeetan Patel. Once again, Harbhajan Singh or Anil Kumble did not get a mention here.

The former leggie tipped Paul Collingwood, Murali, Stephen Fleming, Shane Watson and Michael Clarke to be Players of the Tournament and again he didn’t find any Indian good enough to be there. Leading run-scorer? Warne springs a surprise again. It's not Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Yousuf, Brian Lara or even Ricky Ponting. Instead, Warne places his money on Kiwi Lou Vincent!