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Ganguly bats for Greg Chappell

Sourav Ganguly is in favour of Greg Chappell, the former Australian great, taking on the job of Indian coach following John Wright's imminent departure

Anand Vasu
Anand Vasu
06-Apr-2005


Sourav Ganguly: tilting the Chappell way © Getty Images
Sourav Ganguly is in favour of Greg Chappell, the former Australian great, taking on the job of Indian coach following John Wright's imminent departure. Cricinfo has learned that Ganguly has put forth Chappell's candidature before senior board officials twice, during the first one-dayers at Kochi and Visakhapatnam.
However, this seems to be personal initiative from Ganguly. Other senior members in the team have not been consulted on the issue, and the do not see it fit to approach board officials when their views had not been sought.
Chappell, who was in Mumbai recently for a promotional event, told Cricinfo, "If they [Indian board] approach me and want to talk about it, I'm happy to do it. I've got plenty to do and I'm really focusing on getting on with my life. I tend not to think too much in hypothetical terms. I'm open to most things and always prepared to look and listen. If someone wants to talk to me about a job in or out of cricket I'm open-minded enough to have a listen. Coaching any national team would be a great honour, but it would also be difficult because it brings its own set of challenges. It would depend very much on what the offer was."
Interestingly, when Chappell was in Mumbai over three days, he was not contacted by any board officials regarding the coaching job. It is understood that the board is actively seeking the advice of Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri in the selection of the new coach, and may well ask one of the two to speak to the candidate they eventually decide on.
Chappell has his hands full at the moment, running his own coaching website, ChappellWay, and working full-time with a telecommunications company he has a stake in.
Chappell was in contention for the coaching job when Wright landed it four years back, but was overlooked in the final interview stage. Although rumours about his demanding exorbitant sums of money are not entirely accurate, it is also clear that Chappell will be a more expensive prospect than someone like Wright. It is also rumoured that the final round of interviews was merely a formality, and that the board had already decided on Wright, having ascertained that he was the choice of senior members of the team. But, Chappell does not harbour any ill will from that encounter. "I tend not to hold on too much to things that happened in the past," he said. "I prefer to look at each situation in its own right and take a decision on what needs to be done. I wouldn't consider that a problem."
Anand Vasu is assistant editor of Cricinfo.