Sep 26, 2005 01:10 PM
3768 Views
(Updated Sep 26, 2005 02:37 PM)
The great drama that’s been happening in Indian cricket for the past two weeks or so has reached its climax. The Special meeting to be held tomorrow reviewing the Ganguly – Chappell spat would hopefully come up with a solution and put a big full stop to the whole issue. As a Cricket fan I feel very much let down and for a nation like India where cricket is regarded as a religion this whole issues is an utter disgrace. All said and done I would like to give my views and thoughts on these issues. This is combination of what I have been thinking and what I have been reading in papers, articles and what have been discussed in the various talk shows.
Personally I strongly believe that Ganguly should definitely step down as the Captain and also should be taken out of the team. I stand by that, firmly. Why was Mr. Chappell appointed as the Indian coach in the first place? Because the board and the reviewing team consisting of cricket historians firmly believed that he would definitely bring in a drastic change to the teams performance, boost the teams morale, uplift the players level of fitness and commitment, bring in a change in the teams approach and to bring an Australian work ethic which is highly regarded and envied world over. His theory is very simple ‘You perform and you play in the team, if not pave way for the others’. In any case the Coach and the Captain are supposed to work hand in hand to the betterment of the team, but what happens if the captain himself being the first liability case here. If it’s the coach’s responsibility to tell exactly where the teams standard stands, then he is equally responsible to tell where the captain stands.
Let me pile up a number of questions and issues raised against ganguly.
Ganguly has not been in the best of forms for nearly three years or so. He is not been scoring runs as he used to, in both forms of the game. Can’t really remember any match of the recent past where he had single handedly won the game for our country as a batsman, bowler or a fielder.
Ganguly is regarded as a very good captain, he has good winning record to support it. But is there any game in particular during his tenure where you can give credit for the victory entirely due to his captaincy. Stephen Fleming is regarded a great captain, but doesn’t have a great winning record to support him. But, but he has won several matches for his country with his innovative field placements and great bowling changes. That’s captaincy.
If you claim India was regarded the second best team to Australia during 2003. It reached the 2003 World cup final(could have won it, but for the blunder of Saurav asking aussies to bat after winning the toss), leveled the test series in Australia, won against Pakistan in their home series, reached almost all the finals of the tournament they played under his captaincy, then why isn’t performing well now. Almost 80% of the same team exists now, with the addition of some great bowling talents of Pathan. Why isn’t it performing well is because the players aren’t performing. Regardless of the Captain, it is just the team’s performance and nothing to do with the leadership qualities of Saurav.
If you praise him for backing up and grooming youngsters like Yuvraj, Kaif and harbhajan, any guy with a basic cricketing knowledge would have supported the budding talent in these guys. They would have anyways made it to the highest level.
It was Saurav who approached the coach to give his views about him frankly. So when Chappell gives his hones and frank opinion on what he feels of Saurav, he reacts in a Hysterical, childish way and threatens to leave Zimbabwe immediately. which would have been a disaster for the team.
After the issue is settled between these two with the help and of team manager and rahul Dravid, Saurav goes public by saying that he was asked to step down from Captaincy. which totally erodes the morale of the team between the test match.
Timing of his statement is highly questionable. Had he not scored the ever slow hundred there are serious doubts whether he would have revealed it. He was so selfish to take advantage of the situation. Being the captain of a side doesn’t he know that theses issues leaked to public are highly sensitive and would end up spoiling the morale of the team. Is this his interest towards the team?
Why was Yuvaraj considered ahead of kaif for the two tests. Kaif was arguably the best plyer of the one day tournament.Is there any one valid reason for the selection?.
Ganguly is probably the least fit in the team. He is probably the worst fielder in the team along with Nehra. His running between the wickets is another debacle. Is he not setting poor examples to the other team mates and new youngsters in the team. Should he not be leading from the front?
There are so many issues and thoughts hitting my mind. I have stayed away from discussing the e-mail issue because it is better not to jump into conclusions. Let the meeting happen tomorrow and let the board and the review panel decide what solution can be taken for the best interests of the team and the Nation. Regardless of what’s going to happen tomorrow, still Ganguly is guilty of spoiling the morale of the team and being a very bad example. Regardless of Chappells accusation against Ganguly being proven or not, regardless of whether Chappell stays or not, is Ganguly worth to be in team. That is my question, and the answer is a Big NO.
So I strongly and vehemently feel that he should step down. If he is really talented and if he has a burning desire to play for the country, then let him go back to domestic cricket get his basics right and let his performances speak for him. Let him make the selectors select him purely on performance basis. If he does so then I will accept that he is indeed a worthy player. But realistically I don’t see that happening. The day Saurav performs, Pigs will start flying.
