This time I have chosen to express my views about the topic that I think would have been discussed by all the keen followers of Indian Cricket. The contribution of the former coach of India and legendary Australian batsman - Greg Chappell, to the Indian Cricket.
Greg Chappell was appointed as the coach of Indian team after the former Kiwi batsman John Wright, successfully completed his tenure and decided not to extend his contract with the BCCI as the coach of Indian cricket team. The process adopted by the BCCI for the selection of the next coach was a really lengthy but a rigorous one. A set of criterion was decided upon for screening all the candidates that had applied for the prestigious, but a very scrutinizing job. Also the BCCI had appointed a committee of former captains and players to help them select the right candidate for the job. The committee comprised of Venkat Raghavan, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri. They screened each and every candidate, looked at their credentials and interviewed them. The committee finally decided on two candidates to be considered for the job, Greg Chappell and Mohinder Amarnath. Both the candidates were asked to make presentations pertaining to their future vision for the development of Indian cricket and how they could help the Indian team as a coach. Based on the presentations Greg Chappell was offered the job which he gladly accepted.
Greg Chappell had always been a very shrewd cricketer when he represented Australia and was known to do anything for winning a game. He was the captain who had ordered his younger brother, Trevor, to bowl the final ball of the match as an underarm delivery against NZ, to make sure the Kiwis were not able to score the required 6 runs from the final delivery, bear in mind not to win but to tie the game. This meant that Australia would go on to win the third match of the five match series to be played in the finals of Benson and Hedges World Series Cup in Feb 1981. The delivery was not technically illegal but was considered against the spirit of the game and since is considered as one of the most disgraceful incidents ever to have happened in the history of the game. Although he was considered a lesser astute captain than his elder brother Ian, he still managed to win 21 out of the 48 tests that he played as a captain, losing only 13. Since his retirement,he had been an Australian selector, a coach for Queensland, and a consultant for Pakistan's National Cricket Academy before becoming the coach of the Indian cricket team.
When he was appointed as the coach of the Indian cricket team, the team had been doing well under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly (one of the best Captains India has ever produced in my opinion) but had started showing loss of form in ODIs and had made a habit of reaching the finals of a tournament and ending up as the runners up, hence being tagged as chokers in the media. Ganguly himself was having a difficult time as a batsman and questions were being raised over his place in the team as a batsman. Chappell wanted to have a playing eleven selected on the basis of performance and not reputation and thus, was himself not happy with the selection of Sourav Ganguly. Things got worse between them and finally everything came out in the open when a letter by Greg Chappell to the BCCI about his concerns and the factions that Sourav Ganguly was creating within the team to keep his place, was leaked to the media. India were touring Zimbabwe at the time and Ganguly, to his relief, had scored a century, though against a weakened Zimbabwean side. BCCI finally acceded to Chappell's request and Ganguly was sacked as the captain and was unceremoniously (but justifiably) ousted from the team. Even Ganguly himself has stated that his only disappointment was with the way he was removed from the team and not why he was shown the door.
As usual there were huge protests, specially in Kolkata, by the supporters of Ganguly. The then chairman of the selection committee, Kiran More, had made it clear that Ganguly would not make it back to the team unless he gained his form and worked on his fitness. Rahul Dravid was appointed as the captain and India started really well under his captaincy. He too was impressed with Chappell's idea of selection based on performance and the ability of the batsmen to play at any position as required in the game. Unfortunately, the Indian players took it as a threat to their secured positions in the team and started to raise questions. Concerns over the coaching ways of Chappell were being raised from within the team. Meanwhile the team did really well in test matches, specially overseas where they won series in the WI, won a test in South Africa, drew a series against England but then had a tough tour against South Africa and WI in the ODIs, just before the 2007 WC that was to be held in the WI. Despite Chappell's efforts to prepare a young side for the WC, the selection committee surrendered under the pressure to bring back the players based on reputation for the WC. Obviously, Chappell was not happy with the team given to him but had no other option but to take the squad to the WI for the WC. What happened next will never be washed away from the memories of the Indian Cricket fans. India lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to crash out of the WC in the first phase.
As expected, fans back home were furious but unfortunately the blame was being put on Greg Chappell. Chappell had finished his contract and decided not to extend his contract as the coach after taking the responsibility for the abysmal performance in the WC. Before he left though, he submitted a report to the BCCI on his assessment of the players that he thought would be the future of Indian cricket team. He specifically mentioned that India were lucky to have found MS Dhoni, as he thought Dhoni was a really good captaincy material. He also mentioned that Suresh Raina was as talented as Tendulkar and should be given time to mature into a great batsman. Although Raina was not able to live up to the expectations and was rightly shown the door, he has come back strongly and has started to realize the talent that he has been blessed with. Dhoni has already proved how good a captain and a player he is, with wins in the T20 WC and the astonishing series victory over Australia, in Australia. He has improved by leaps and bounds as a keeper too. Dhoni has followed the same policy that Greg Chappell had initially embarked upon, rewarding the players based on the performance, as a result India has seen the rise of Gautham Gambhir who had been a consistant performer for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy, but could never make a place for himself due to Ganguly's presence. Now that Dhoni has clearly told the selection committee that he wants a young side, and has done well thus far, it has proved to be the right policy to keep Ganguly, Dravid, Kumble out of the ODI side.
Having said that, I would like to make a point to all the Ganguly fans, who would say that Ganguly showed a lot of character by coming back to the Indian side and making runs consistently since his comeback. I agree, it was really heartening to see Ganguly show some guts to fight it out and come back to be on top of his game, but the only reason he was able to do so was because of Greg Chappell. Ganguly was ousted of the team and was as a result able to work on his batting, spend some time playing in the domestic season, working on his batting and fitness, which resulted in him regaining the lost form and making the incredible comeback that everybody has witnessed.
Indian cricket fans should be thankful to the former coach who fought his way through the traditional establishments of Indian cricket and changed the mindset of the selectors to focus on the performance rather than the reputation of the players. I hope that his contribution to the development of the new era of Indian cricket will not be forgotten, and will be and should be appreciated by the cricket crazy fans in India and all over the world.
Greg Chappell was appointed as the coach of Indian team after the former Kiwi batsman John Wright, successfully completed his tenure and decided not to extend his contract with the BCCI as the coach of Indian cricket team. The process adopted by the BCCI for the selection of the next coach was a really lengthy but a rigorous one. A set of criterion was decided upon for screening all the candidates that had applied for the prestigious, but a very scrutinizing job. Also the BCCI had appointed a committee of former captains and players to help them select the right candidate for the job. The committee comprised of Venkat Raghavan, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri. They screened each and every candidate, looked at their credentials and interviewed them. The committee finally decided on two candidates to be considered for the job, Greg Chappell and Mohinder Amarnath. Both the candidates were asked to make presentations pertaining to their future vision for the development of Indian cricket and how they could help the Indian team as a coach. Based on the presentations Greg Chappell was offered the job which he gladly accepted.
Greg Chappell had always been a very shrewd cricketer when he represented Australia and was known to do anything for winning a game. He was the captain who had ordered his younger brother, Trevor, to bowl the final ball of the match as an underarm delivery against NZ, to make sure the Kiwis were not able to score the required 6 runs from the final delivery, bear in mind not to win but to tie the game. This meant that Australia would go on to win the third match of the five match series to be played in the finals of Benson and Hedges World Series Cup in Feb 1981. The delivery was not technically illegal but was considered against the spirit of the game and since is considered as one of the most disgraceful incidents ever to have happened in the history of the game. Although he was considered a lesser astute captain than his elder brother Ian, he still managed to win 21 out of the 48 tests that he played as a captain, losing only 13. Since his retirement,he had been an Australian selector, a coach for Queensland, and a consultant for Pakistan's National Cricket Academy before becoming the coach of the Indian cricket team.
When he was appointed as the coach of the Indian cricket team, the team had been doing well under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly (one of the best Captains India has ever produced in my opinion) but had started showing loss of form in ODIs and had made a habit of reaching the finals of a tournament and ending up as the runners up, hence being tagged as chokers in the media. Ganguly himself was having a difficult time as a batsman and questions were being raised over his place in the team as a batsman. Chappell wanted to have a playing eleven selected on the basis of performance and not reputation and thus, was himself not happy with the selection of Sourav Ganguly. Things got worse between them and finally everything came out in the open when a letter by Greg Chappell to the BCCI about his concerns and the factions that Sourav Ganguly was creating within the team to keep his place, was leaked to the media. India were touring Zimbabwe at the time and Ganguly, to his relief, had scored a century, though against a weakened Zimbabwean side. BCCI finally acceded to Chappell's request and Ganguly was sacked as the captain and was unceremoniously (but justifiably) ousted from the team. Even Ganguly himself has stated that his only disappointment was with the way he was removed from the team and not why he was shown the door.
As usual there were huge protests, specially in Kolkata, by the supporters of Ganguly. The then chairman of the selection committee, Kiran More, had made it clear that Ganguly would not make it back to the team unless he gained his form and worked on his fitness. Rahul Dravid was appointed as the captain and India started really well under his captaincy. He too was impressed with Chappell's idea of selection based on performance and the ability of the batsmen to play at any position as required in the game. Unfortunately, the Indian players took it as a threat to their secured positions in the team and started to raise questions. Concerns over the coaching ways of Chappell were being raised from within the team. Meanwhile the team did really well in test matches, specially overseas where they won series in the WI, won a test in South Africa, drew a series against England but then had a tough tour against South Africa and WI in the ODIs, just before the 2007 WC that was to be held in the WI. Despite Chappell's efforts to prepare a young side for the WC, the selection committee surrendered under the pressure to bring back the players based on reputation for the WC. Obviously, Chappell was not happy with the team given to him but had no other option but to take the squad to the WI for the WC. What happened next will never be washed away from the memories of the Indian Cricket fans. India lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to crash out of the WC in the first phase.
As expected, fans back home were furious but unfortunately the blame was being put on Greg Chappell. Chappell had finished his contract and decided not to extend his contract as the coach after taking the responsibility for the abysmal performance in the WC. Before he left though, he submitted a report to the BCCI on his assessment of the players that he thought would be the future of Indian cricket team. He specifically mentioned that India were lucky to have found MS Dhoni, as he thought Dhoni was a really good captaincy material. He also mentioned that Suresh Raina was as talented as Tendulkar and should be given time to mature into a great batsman. Although Raina was not able to live up to the expectations and was rightly shown the door, he has come back strongly and has started to realize the talent that he has been blessed with. Dhoni has already proved how good a captain and a player he is, with wins in the T20 WC and the astonishing series victory over Australia, in Australia. He has improved by leaps and bounds as a keeper too. Dhoni has followed the same policy that Greg Chappell had initially embarked upon, rewarding the players based on the performance, as a result India has seen the rise of Gautham Gambhir who had been a consistant performer for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy, but could never make a place for himself due to Ganguly's presence. Now that Dhoni has clearly told the selection committee that he wants a young side, and has done well thus far, it has proved to be the right policy to keep Ganguly, Dravid, Kumble out of the ODI side.
Having said that, I would like to make a point to all the Ganguly fans, who would say that Ganguly showed a lot of character by coming back to the Indian side and making runs consistently since his comeback. I agree, it was really heartening to see Ganguly show some guts to fight it out and come back to be on top of his game, but the only reason he was able to do so was because of Greg Chappell. Ganguly was ousted of the team and was as a result able to work on his batting, spend some time playing in the domestic season, working on his batting and fitness, which resulted in him regaining the lost form and making the incredible comeback that everybody has witnessed.
Indian cricket fans should be thankful to the former coach who fought his way through the traditional establishments of Indian cricket and changed the mindset of the selectors to focus on the performance rather than the reputation of the players. I hope that his contribution to the development of the new era of Indian cricket will not be forgotten, and will be and should be appreciated by the cricket crazy fans in India and all over the world.
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