Chappell's brave gambit

I agree with Harsha that the current state of well-being in the Indian team is born out of chaos, both within the Indian team and in Indian cricket in general. I doubt if Greg Chappell would have got the space and the freedom to start acting on his vision or Rahul Dravid would have got the chance to lead India had Sourav Ganguly not looked so shaky, and, more crucially, the political situation with the BCCI not been so volatile.

Chappell’s high-risk approach to the problem he found himself facing in Sri Lanka and in Zimbabwe could turn out to be one of the most crucial, even seminal, points in Indian cricket. The six-page email he wrote to BCCI was brutal on Ganguly; more critically, it left Chappell with no escape route. He would have perhaps known that the mail would find its way to the public domain and it would force the board to act. It could have cost him his job. That he put his job on the line in order not to compromise his beliefs was a strong statement about his character.

Chappell could have, like many of us who are frustrated by the system, reconciled himself to working within its limitations. But he decided to shake it up. That Ganguly’s time was up as captain was plain to see, but without Chappell acting as precipitator, the status quo would have been maintained: Ganguly’s Test hundred against Zimbabwe would have been enough to keep him in the seat. Chappell had a bit of luck because the circumstances – the uncertainty and the power struggle within the BCCI – worked to his advantage. But courage, you could say, begets luck.

Let’s not be fooled by India’s success against Sri Lanka though. Sri Lanka’s number two status was a bit of a lie because it was built on their mastery over home conditions. The most encouraging sign from the recent performance of the Indian team, however, is the wholehearted manner in which the whole team has bought in to the vision and ethics espoused by the coach and captain. Ajit Agarkar made a pertinent observation in an interview a few days ago. Asked about the difference between the Ganguly-Wright and Dravid-Chappell regimes, he said, “When the team is winning, we tend to overlook certain aspects and under Sourav we were winning a lot.”

Perhaps for the first time in the history of Indian cricket, there is a coach-captain team that’s united not only by the goal, but also in perfect sync about the path to that goal. There are tougher challenges ahead, both at home and abroad, and with every loss, the methods Chappell and Dravid have adopted will be under scrutiny. How much they will be allowed to stick to the processes they have unleashed, will depend, unfortunately, on the political equations with the board – if not entirely, certainly to a large extent.

It is with concern that we read about the BCCI president predicting with an air of certainty that Ganguly will be back. The concern isn’t about Ganguly’s return, for he still might have something to offer the Indian team if he is willing to buy into the “process”, but that the board president, who should have no role whatsoever in team selection, should think it fit to make such a statement. Who knows what’s cooking?