The Guru came...earned...showed and went
The guru came.....!The end of 22 months of promise or to say ordeal/turmoil has come to an end…If I remember rightly there was a lot of hope and anticipation when Guru Greg joined the Indian Cricket team as its second overseas coach. Guru Greg was able to impress the coach-selection committee (comprising of Sunny Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and few other morons) by his vision and a few power point presentations. As per Ravi Shastri, his presentation was simply outstanding. The other options available for India were Tom Moody- the lanky Aussie all-rounder, Sandip Patil and Mohinder Amarnath
He was given a ceremonious welcome into the country and the team and I still remember him greeting the entire country with folded hands (The Namaskar as we call it), with the Tri-Color hung onto his shoulders. What I personally feel is that he realized in beginning itself that he need to get rid of players who were aggressive and who would not bow down to any of his recommendations must have realized that “Ek Mayan Mein Do Talwar Nahin Reh Saakten…!”
As a Cricketer he was one of the best One-Down Bat in the Seventies. He was an aggressive batsman and was never afraid of playing shots. He is one of the cricketers who scored centuries in his First Test Match and his last test appearance (after announcing his retirement from the game). But I also heard of this fact that he asked his younger brother Trevor Chappell to bowl underarms in one of the match in the early 80’s against the Kiwi’s to win a match. I really do not know what this suggest, does it mean that he wants to win at all cost or does it mean that he is a bad loser.
The first task he undertook was to get rid of the man, who I believe made Team India. The only thing I got to hear from all corners was that they were building a young team for the 2007 ICC World Cup and that the Ex-Captain was mentally and physically not up to the mark to lead the Team, which he had so successfully led until 2005 (post match fixing era).He made the current captain as the best choice which I still don’t believe. He is neither aggressive nor imaginative. Though he has good command over his language, but I am sorry to say he is not a good communicator on the field. Coming back to Guru Greg, he promised a lot during his initial days of training, but I guess no one would have believed that he was an Australian representative, who had come on a mission…mission to dismantle Team India.
His conduct became worse when his folded hands changed to a saluting the Indian Public with his raised Middle Finger gesture.
He was given a ceremonious welcome into the country and the team and I still remember him greeting the entire country with folded hands (The Namaskar as we call it), with the Tri-Color hung onto his shoulders. What I personally feel is that he realized in beginning itself that he need to get rid of players who were aggressive and who would not bow down to any of his recommendations must have realized that “Ek Mayan Mein Do Talwar Nahin Reh Saakten…!”
As a Cricketer he was one of the best One-Down Bat in the Seventies. He was an aggressive batsman and was never afraid of playing shots. He is one of the cricketers who scored centuries in his First Test Match and his last test appearance (after announcing his retirement from the game). But I also heard of this fact that he asked his younger brother Trevor Chappell to bowl underarms in one of the match in the early 80’s against the Kiwi’s to win a match. I really do not know what this suggest, does it mean that he wants to win at all cost or does it mean that he is a bad loser.
The first task he undertook was to get rid of the man, who I believe made Team India. The only thing I got to hear from all corners was that they were building a young team for the 2007 ICC World Cup and that the Ex-Captain was mentally and physically not up to the mark to lead the Team, which he had so successfully led until 2005 (post match fixing era).He made the current captain as the best choice which I still don’t believe. He is neither aggressive nor imaginative. Though he has good command over his language, but I am sorry to say he is not a good communicator on the field. Coming back to Guru Greg, he promised a lot during his initial days of training, but I guess no one would have believed that he was an Australian representative, who had come on a mission…mission to dismantle Team India.
His conduct became worse when his folded hands changed to a saluting the Indian Public with his raised Middle Finger gesture.
He Showed.....!To sum it up, I have to say the Board took a wrong step by appointing this great player as our coach but his coaching skills were not at all beneficial to the Team India as his records says it all…When Chappell took over as coach India was ranked 2nd in ICC rankings. Currently India has dropped to the 6th position in ICC rankings.
Bye Bye folks....Talks are in the media that we are going to have Robin Singh as our fielding coach (will educate how to have a stance where your head is pointing towards the point region and you can site a cricket ball and not have any head/neck injuries…meanwhile a month ago we heard he was involved in some match-fixing issues…related to Marlon Samuels…where did all those allegations vanish), Venkatesh Prasad as our Bowling coach(to train our bowlers to bowl slow….slower….slowest….) and Ravi Shastri as the Manager/Coach for the series of Bangladesh(will teach how to bat at a strike rate of 40 odd runs/100 balls...and keep looking at the Man of The Series Trophy…and train so-called ageing players how to have an alternate career). I have also heard that we are going to appoint a bowling coach for the spinners. If this is the scenario, then I guess we will have coaches for batsman for playing on the off-Side, one for playing on the leg side (front of the wicket) and two more for playing strokes behind the wicket. Are these solutions explainable?
Does this team of new coaches have it in them to produce the results against the mighty Bangladeshi’s….Its only time that would provide us with the answers….
-GAG
posted by The Fite Klub @ 1:37 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Full Support to u buddy.
1.)Though I am not a big fan of BCCI, the players who are appointed here were not talented(not flamboyant) but they never went down without a fight.For your information,When Shastri won the man of the series award,India won the tournament(the second big tournament so far after WC's).
2.)Lets accept it, Ganguly( as a player stopped improving after 2001(stats don't lie). No use being flamboyant without performin(I agree he used to be gutsy). He lost respect eventually and made a fool of himself. (Ind vs Aus - 3 rd test -2004, withdrew after seeing the pitch- 100 against Zim -in 4 hours and talks like it was a great inns under pressure- Gimme a break , ganguly.
He was just plain lucky( and captaincy I think is 80 % luck-I am not complaining) to have had dravid and tendulkar at their peaks when he captained.
If greg chappell an Aussie is appointed the coach , it is up to the Indian player to understand his ways and not the other way round.
I would have to disagree with you on that Buddy.
Not sure of this...but still would want to make a point. I dont think the player ROBIN SINGH was involved in the match fixing act. That guy was someone different. Anyways, good article. And I too am of the opinion that John Wright was a much better asset for Indian cricket.
AHAK,
I was very sure that Robin wouldn’t have been involved in any fixing cos he was not capable of deciding a fate of match by himself….no fault of his…..
Regarding u agreeing on John, it nice to know that finally we are agreeing on some points …I hope it’s a beginning and my future articles and time would change you perception on the Ape,Dada and Sallu….:-)
Venkat,
Nice comments dude. But I tend to disagree...
1. We were gifted (sandip patil, amaranth, vengsarkar) and flamboyant (Srikkanth) and were lead by Kapil…that’s the reason for our success. You have to agree that those bunch of players were not that talented as compared to current players…its just that during that time all rallied behind the captain and the results were good…it was similar during dada’s tenure as all the new comers were given liberty to play their game and were supported by the captain
2. Come on dude, Ganguly was not that bad…he did fairly well post 2001…I don’t want to get into statistics…but Dravid was in the team just because he was made the keeper and was included in the ODI team…he was the slowest scorer’s at one point if u remember (u wouldn’t cos u were not watching those matches live…I did…and it was a pain…hehehe)
Dada wasn’t lucky…he made his fortune and stood by his players…unlike Rahul
When John left we were 2nd from the Top in the world…now after Greg has left we are 2nd from the bottom….that’s a fact.
Hmm great blog that u have here though it is my first visit here hope to frequent it much more in the future...
Geat Article that u got here and i will try and add a few pointers of my own to add to the discussion.
The less said about the dismal performance at the world cup the better but yet cant help the impending agony.
Mr. Greg Chapell had very convinently told the media before the world cup that " we are peaking at the right time" but reality hit like a tsunami and washed away the mountain of expectations..and a series of analysis of what went wrong where.
Amongst the suggestions that did spring up later one was to allocate a couch for differant department of the game one important department that was left out is running between the wickets and we should hire a couch for that too or even better hire a ferocious terrain for the job.
Also i would like to hav an input on certain comments...Mr. Venkat i dont understand why Ganguly cant play but Sachin can despite poor show and sehwag's non existant performance.
Also Dravid may be dependable or a consistant run getter like ravi shastri but the element of entertainment is completely missing from the performances. seeing Dravid play a non cricketing or improvised shot is as rare as a smile on face of Andre Neil.
As a captain one needs to be dynamic and innovative and he lacks in both departments.
"tearthatneverfell",
Great to hear that some one actually liked the blog...and thanks for adding your point of views
Mr. Greg as you said always concentrated on the 2007 World Cup. The day he joined the team 2 years back, he and the rest (the present Captain) were focusing on building a team for the 2007 world cup, axeing the so-called "non-performers”. This certainly made a few players just worry on the fact that they wud be dropped if they do not perform…they were never given the confidence, which I feel is required in this game.
The couch ...hehe...is a good term for the present lot of "coaches”. I guess the board has realized why to pay and make a foreigner rich, rather than we can help some ex-players from our country.....earn a few pennies
I agree on the fact that RD lacks the flair that our ex captain possessed in abundance.
Between you have a fantastic name...”tearthatneverfell”...
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