When John Wright took over as the cricket coach, the Indian team was not winning anything. It was rocked by personality battles, and there was only one way to go – up. When he left, things had come full circle. The Indian team is not winning anything, it is rocked by personality battles and there is only one way to go – up. That will be the new coach’s advantage. Greg Chappell may or may not thank Wright for putting Indian cricket back where he found it, but the selection committee comprising three former India captains must be congratulated for choosing a man who is unlikely to be bullied by the Board.
For, the biggest problem any coach faces is not from the senior players as is usually made out, but from the Board which behaves like a super coach, telling the national coach what to do. This is especially true at the time of team selection. In private conversations, Wright has admitted that he faced ridiculous regional pressure. But he quickly learnt the Indian way, and was known to speak with forked tongue – saying one thing to the selectors outside the meeting and quite another during the meeting. In short, he toed the line, which suited everyone especially when India were winning.
When Bishan Bedi, the first Indian coach (in the modern sense) was appointed in 1990, his bowling colleague S Venkatraghavan made a perceptive statement. “This is either the greatest move by the Board or the most terrible. Bishan is that kind of a man. He can be outstanding or childish.” In the event, Bedi had a good tour of New Zealand (he did say though after a defeat that if some of the Indian players wanted to throw themselves into the Pacific Ocean he wouldn’t stop them) and a horrible tour of England where he publicly dissociated himself from the captain’s decision to field first at Lord’s and equally publicly took another former captain to task for turning down an MCC membership.
But his cricketing credentials were impeccable. He brought in a culture of physical fitness; he brought a dignity to the demeanour on and off the field; he was always accessible and anyone could dip into his storehouse of experiences at any time.
I have a feeling that Greg Chappell’s influence will be similar. He too is a tough taskmaster of the old school. He runs a website on cricket coaching, and is the kind of ‘laptop’ coach that is both necessary and misunderstood by people who are uncomfortable with technological support.
Over the years, the players have become more professional, however, probably owing to the realization that if they can’t keep their place in the team no advertiser is likely to chase them. A couple of generations ago, our star players were known just as much for their unprofessional habits. But no active player in the last quarter century has felt the need for alcohol except for a sip of celebratory champagne. Indian players today are certainly far fitter than their predecessors. They don’t get into scrapes (publicly at least), they say the right things to the media, they are image conscious. Which is all to the good. There is no wayward genius who has to be cajoled into practice.
If Chappell gets the Board off his back, and with the players under control (he knows that players around the world are insecure and how to handle that), Chappell will have to deal with the media which has its own agenda. He could tread on the toes of the high and mighty if he gives too many interviews where the truth is spoken rather than hidden behind a screen of technical jargon.
Indians don’t like to hear that Sachin Tendulkar is a different kind of batsman today than he was a decade ago. They don’t appreciate a foreigner telling them that their system is all wrong and needs to be overhauled. And they like all this even less if the results are disappointing.
There are two possibilities here – either the Indian team plays the Chappell way or Chappell plays the Indian way. If it is the former, then all the money and hype focused on Chappell would have been worthwhile. If it is the latter, however, Chappell will turn out to be another John Wright following the path of least resistance, and we would have slipped further back as a cricketing nation.
Sunday, May 29, 2005
