If you want to be like Australia, you can't work like Zimbabwe
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
AFP
Greg Chappell spoke to Sumit Mukherjee and said that coaching India was "a huge learning experience" for him. He goes on to say a lot more, click here for the full interview on indiatimes.com.
If you want to be like Australia, you can't run your cricket like Zimbabwe. The BCCI must adopt, may be, a 10-year plan, spelling out the aims and objectives and go about attaining those goals in a professional manner. Any half-measures or cosmetic changes at this stage would be like putting band-aid on cancer.
He also calls Suresh Raina "a complete package".
I asked Brian [Lara] what he thought of Raina. Brian just said: 'Anyone who can play like that off his back foot has to be special'. In Malaysia, a couple of Australians, including John Buchanan and their fielding coach Mike Young had asked me 'Gregy, where did you find this guy?"
Imran Khan in The Hindustan Times says that in success or failure, the captain comes before the coach.
Since the coach cannot play for the players, he can only be pulled up for strategy. The Indians did not play well against Bangladesh; when the players under-perform, even an excellent strategy will not help. I would say that it is harsh to blame Chappell for India's exit.
"India has been blessed with an exceptional bunch of cricketers who have managed to paper over the cracks in the national game. Sooner or later this team will be seen in its proper context, as a collection of impressive characters who overcame formidable challenges to serve with distinction," writes Peter Roebuck in The Hindu, who believes that nothing will change unless the deeper causes of India's decline are confronted.
In The Australian, Peter Lalor says "Not even the third umpire can establish whether Chappell was pushed or jumped, but the most extraordinary thing was not that he fell victim to the blood-letting, but rather that it was Sachin Tendulkar who delivered the final blow."
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo