[Update: Report after the 6th April meeting of BCCI. Basically, no individuals have been named in the report. Maybe Chappell realized that there was no point in fighting some of the senior Indian cricketers.]
Sachin Tendulkar’s outburst against Greg Chappell was totally uncalled for and also unprofessional. Sachin says
“Paani sar se ooncha ho gaya hai (Things have gone a bit too far to keep quiet). I’ve given my heart and my soul for 17 years. No coach had mentioned even in passing that my attitude was not correct,” Tendulkar told Times of India. “Cricket has been my life for all these years and will always be.” [Source]
Was Tendulkar’s attitude correct when he spoke against the declaration by Rahul Dravid when he was playing on 194 against Pakistan? Or was his attitude correct when he said that he preferred opening when he was asked to bat in the middle order to help the Indian team. It is easy to find instances of people doing these things and it would have been questioned earlier for sure, but it would have been overlooked.
On one side is Chappell’s report, but the other important person in this situation is the manager Sanjay Jagdale. And according to this report (Speculative)
But, if reports are to be believed, Jagdale was unhappy with the attitude of some of the senior cricketers in the course of the World Cup. If he puts that down in his report, citing concrete examples, his words might even carry more weight than Chappell’s. [Source]
Why Sachin?
I am big fan of Sachin, but at this moment I feel that he is trying to prove a point to people and trying to divert attention from the main issues. Sachin says
“Tell me, the world has gone on talking about all this [our defeat and exit] but has anybody spared a thought for us?,” asked an emotional Tendulkar. “Did they try to find out what we have been going through? [Source]
Think of the billion people who stayed up late to watch you guys play. People have thought so much that at this moment they are just disgusted with the way things are panning out. Haven’t all these people stood behind the Indian team all this time?
I am not sure what prompted Sachin to come out and say all this suddenly. The report that Sachin is referring to hasn’t been submitted and whatever is being talked about in the media is pure speculation. Greg Chappell wouldn’t be holding any personal grudges against the players and wouldn’t be having any regional bias. If he holds any grudges and is talking about it then it has happened in the last 22 months. It was Chappell was said it was a Honour to share the dressing room with Sachin and was disappointed when sachin pulled out of the Zimbabwe tour in 2005.
An emotional outburst isn’t the answer to a series of questions that have been raised based on rational observation. Numbers don’t lie and the numbers support Greg Chappell’s view that the seniors in the team haven’t been performing. I don’t have any idea about a coterie of seniors trying to undermine the juniors, but if there is even an iota of truth in that, then the guys responsible should be dropped and a proper investigation should be launched.
I don’t understand what is wrong with a coach questions the attitude of a player? Isn’t that the job of a coach? Shouldn’t he say what is right and what is wrong to the players and if he feels that the players aren’t sincere enough he should say so. And I believe that Greg Chappell believed in talking straight and this didn’t go down well with the Indians. Any superior who doesn’t call a spade a spade, isn’t doing any justice to his/her job.
I was really surprised at some of the reactions of former Indian cricketers on Chappell’s resignation. Krish Srikkanth says that Chappell was a victim of his own formula of ‘Perform-or-Perish’.
Srikkanth felt Chappell succumbed to the same perform-or-perish mantra, which he advocated as a coach.
“It was his philosophy that you perform or perish. He has not performed and he has perished. [Source]
Why the same formula is not applicable to everyone in the Indian team? Sehwag, Irfan, Harbhajan and to an extent even Sachin would be suspects to follow the same route as Chappell. But, we Indians find it way too easy to blame the foreigner and look for escape routes for others.
I was surprised and happy to see the board Secretary Niranjan Shah actually criticize Sachin for going and speaking to the media about Chappell.
I strongly believe Tendulkar has not done the right thing by speaking to the media about Chappell rather than coming to the BCCI. It was not expected from the senior-most member of the Indian team. If he had any grievances, he should have approached the BCCI directly. [Source]
Next Coach and Captain??
I have absolutely no hope in hell about the BCCI doing something good to Indian Cricket after the meeting on the 6th of April. You should fight fire when the fire is starting. There is no hope in fighting fire when it has engulfed the area. The only hope is to run away and this is exactly what the BCCI will do.
Most probably the outcome of this 6th April meeting will be:
- Dravid to remain captain till the next series (most probably he will decline and Tendulkar will be offered the mantle)
- Interim coach to be appointed
- Miscommunication is the cause of Tendulkar’s outburst
- Few handshakes and some smiles for the media
- A DISAPPOINTED INDIAN FAN
Sharad Pawar will not do anything that would question the status of Sachin Tendulkar. And with Zee announcing a series which would be played parallel to BCCI’s domestic league, it doesn’t make any sense to the BCCI to drop the seniors now. The cricketers have the option to move to Zee’s league if the BCCI drops them now. And with the amount of advertising money on the shoulders of the cricketers, I am pretty sure that not a single cricketer would be dropped from the team. Zee’s announcement couldn’t have come at a worse time.
What Indian Cricket needs now?
A Committed Captain and a coach who is committed to the cause of Indian cricket. And above all a Strong Board President who can call the shots independent of what others around him are saying. In the Indian context this is like going back to the days of the kings. The King would take counsel, but would be the ultimate authority while making decisions. Indian cricket has to search for this “King” now. The way BCCI currently functions, it can’t take any worthwhile decision for the simple reason that there are too many committees inside the board and they can only delay or not take decisions. After all, a committee is a group of people trying to do the job of one.
Indian Cricket has to look for answers to find what led to the Seniors in the team to get so defensive before the report of Greg Chappell was to be submitted. Even if the method of the delivery by Chappell was wrong, if the message is correct, there should be some action based on it. If Chappell questioned the attitude of the players and if absolutely nothing happens based on the report we are perpetrating complacency among the cricketers and are accepting that they can do what they want and they won’t be questioned. It would be a meek acceptance that stars needn’t perform and they would be tolerated. Attitude should be the mantra of the next set of players chosen and if that means that a few players will have to be dropped then there shouldn’t be any hesitation in doing so. In the short term, it might harm Indian cricket and might lead to a few effigies being burnt, but in the long term Indian cricket is bound to benefit. After all, empires weren’t built in a day. And Indian cricket needn’t look beyond the Australians of the last and this decade and the Sri Lankans post 1996.
Australia were in a similar situation before 1986 and it took a Allan Border and Bob Simpson to resurrect them. It took a Ranatunga and a Whatmore to resurrect Sri Lanka and lead them to the 1996 world cup triumph. It takes a good coach and a strong leader to rebuild a team and if the next Indian Captain succeeds in doing so, then he will leave a legacy stronger than a Kapil Dev or Gavaskar or Tendulkar.
How about getting some football coaches to coach the Indian cricket team.
Arsene Wenger – Youngsters are preferred; Attacking cricket
Frank Rijkaard – Attacking Cricket; Who cares about defence!!
Jose Mourinho – Defensive cricket; After all, only winning matters
Sam Allardyce – Can get the best out of 30+ players!! Best man at this time.
Alex Ferguson – I need 7 years to win anything, but can make an unbeatable team if given the time.
Frankly, the team needs an attitude to match the footballing teams.
[P.S: I was doing a spell check on this post and guess what spelling was suggested to replace Sehwag. It was <Try to guess> and I was tempted to hit 'Change'. 
]
[Pictures Courtesy: Hindu, Zeenews and NDTV.]
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