Greg Chappell an Australian Mole in Indian Camp?

He came with lot of fanfare, with promise to prepare a winning combination for the forthcoming World Cup. The first thing that he did upon taking up responsibility was to remove the most successful captain India has ever had in its cricketing history. And as preparations began with a new incumbent, Dravid, as captain, the batsman who was referred to as ‘The Wall’ till recently appeared disturbed and losing out on his batting prowess, until a broken finger saved him from further disgrace. This has happened largely due to shift of his batting order, courtesy Chappell. ‘Team India’ is no longer an integrated lot. Guru Greg has emerged as the terminator of the moral and confidence of Indian team. During the last World Cup, India was the only team that had potential to challenge the might of Australian supremacy. It had the world’s best batting line-up, most promising bowling department, and a perfect balance of experience and youth. By the time 2007 dawns, the same team is reeling under lack of confidence and unity. Looking at the players, it appears that all of them, including Dravid, are playing only to fix their place in the next match. All seem to be looking at the Coach, beseeching and begging Chappell, “Sir, sir! Have pity on me. Please give me one more chance in the final eleven.” If the Guru is happy, the player’s position gets fixed, irrespective of whether he performs or not. (Kaif is a classic example).
No player is playing as a team, as if they do not know what is expected of him. None appears to be confident of his place. While batting, the basics are being forgotten. For instance, rotation of strike, something that even a local district level team knows of in limited over cricket, is missing. Players are unable to hit through the gaps. And the team whose forte till now was spin has ceased to rely on spin, as Guru Greg is increasingly relying on the medium-pace that we have.
Due to this, buzz that is circulating among media and avid cricket lovers is that Guru Greg is an Australian mole in Indian camp.
People are asking how the Indian board could be fool enough to appoint a foreign coach. If Sachin starts training the Pakistani team, will he forego his love for the Indian cricket team? No ways, argues those who are campaigning for Guru Greg’s ouster. How can we expect that Chappell no long wants Australia to win the Cup?
It is being said that due to Chappell’s frequent rotation policy, all the talent in our arsenal has been exposed. A coach is expected to know all the weaknesses of a player. For next 10 years, there seems to be no player now whose weakness is not known to Chappel. Even if we believe that Chappell is not leaking these details to rival camp, how can we be certain that he won’t be doing it in future, when he is no longer the coach of Indian team or when he is coaching another team, say Australia?
A cricket lover that we talked to even said that Chappell was an offshoot of an Australian play. “What else could be the reason for his modus operandi, that none but he could decipher,” said he, adding further: “Indian team was the only one that could have defeated Australia; we have fallen for the trap laid by them. I am afraid the same is going to happen to Indian cricket which happened to hockey a few decades earlier.”
Moreover, there are times when certain decisions are made for psychological reasons. For instance, if Sachin has pain in the elbow and is uncomfortable while playing certain shots, he will be played so as to have the psychological edge on the opponents. Suppose this weakness gets leaked, all that the bowlers from opposite camp would do would be to aim at his elbow and the psychological advantage would become a disadvantage instead.
It is several months now that the team performance has remained below par. The team’s performance against Australia was proof enough. Score was 37 for 5 at one stage in Malaysia recently. India was 195 all out later. Only in one match was India able to score a decent total; but it lost out in that match too.
South Africa has been no exception. It seems our batsmen have forgotten how to play on the bouncy wicket. New solutions are being presented, including bringing back those whom Guru Greg ousted only some time ago due to their catching age.

Box 1
Sack the foreign coach, screams the politicians
Politicians too couldn’t ignore it anymore, due to incessant lack of credible performance by the team. Issue erupted in the Parliament as well. All seemed to be gunning for the ouster of this ‘contract coach’. Why shouldn’t they when it was the coach who had been given a free hand for the selection. If there was any lack of freedom due to interference from politicians or BCCI, why is the coach not saying so?
From Mohan Singh of Samajwadi Party to Brinda Karat of CPI-M, from Rajeev Shukla of Congress to Lalu Prasad of RJD, not to mention the redoubtable Gurudass Dasgupta of the CPI, there never was more consensus in the Parliament on one single issue. All are outraged by the damage to the national honour done by the men in blue.

Box 2
Why can’t experiments be done on coach?
People are saying that if experiments can be done on batsmen, bowlers, all-rounders, new finds, old and trusted, those who have been successful and those who have been failures, pitches, cities and captains, why can’t experiments be done on coaches as well. The coach enjoys the fruits of success, he commands and takes decisions regarding team selection, final eleven and the batting order, but he is not accountable when it comes to defeats and shortcomings. Why are these passed on to the players?

Box 3
Players are equally to be blamed
However, it is not fair to put the blame on coach alone. What has happened to the world’s best batsmen? Clearly, coach has not snatched away the talent from them. The likes of Sachin, Veru and Dravid are coming to the field with drooping shoulders and departing soon, as if they were novices in this department. What used to be the tale of India’s long tail a few decades ago, is now showing its face at the top. No doubt, players today are doing all they could to earn money, be it the advertisements, endorsements, ramp walking and some even match fixing – and very few really performing in area that catapulted them to top. It is unfortunate that while Chappell is being blamed, the likes of Dravid, Sachin, Veru and Dhoni are being spared. Is this the time to put brakes on their indulgence in advertising?

Box 4
If Chappell doesn’t know the reason, who knows?
Chappel has presented a very forlorn picture on record: “The team is not playing well enough and I am not very sure what the situation is.” Question arises who knows that the situation is. National pride is being put to shame (something that this foreign coach would be least bothered about) and the solution that he tells is something that the entire world already knows of. “We are not playing well enough, that’s the basic problem.” Then he says: “We didn’t take all our catches and that was the big difference in the game.” And then: “We are struggling and we need to look at different options.”
Is there anything that is new in these utterances? Chappell needs to tell the truth behind the entire change of events. Why is it that those he ousted are now again in contention? Is this the team’s way to revolt against his way of working? Or are there more sinister issues involved? Come on Chappell, entire country is looking at you to spell out the undercover mystery.