Are We Going Back to Greg Chappel Ways of Indian Cricket?
By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee
It is quite surprising that Team
India which was favourites to win the World Cup (which they did) just about a
year back is fighting hard to stay united on a cricket field. A team which
rightly claimed Cricket’s most coveted title defeating Australia, Pakistan and
Sri Lanka in do or die games is falling like a pack of cards. Why is this
happening? How is it that a team of talented players who were fighting it out
as a cohesive unit just about a year back look in complete disarray? Well it
seems we are going back to the Greg Chappel ways of playing the game!
Let’s rewind into the past when
the Aussie legend was in charge of the Indian Cricket (sorry but Rahul Dravid
seemed more like an assistant in the team) we were encountering such lows with
first round exit from the 2007 World Cup being the lowest point. There is one
thing common between then and now – ‘uncertainty’ and such environments can
lead to teams fragmenting which happened then and which is happening now. And
the results are for everyone to see the team doesn’t look like one irrespective
to the PR campaign that the BCCI and the team management is running. The team
stands divided on thoughts, vision and perception.
Greg Chappel had come with a plan
to build a ‘team for the future’ but he ignored the present and his stint was
one of the most disastrous phases in recent memory of Indian cricket. Although
our new coach seems to be in the background the captain MS Dhoni seems to have
got into the same though process. He wants to win the 2015 World Cup in
Australia-New Zealand and is sacrificing the present. What else would explain
the logic of rotation when there isn’t any guarantee that some of the
youngsters playing in this tour would be in form and fitness to play the World
Cup which is more than three years away? Rotating between Sachin, Sehwag and
Gambhir has done little good to the team as did Greg’s ways of changing batting
order and having different team meetings with seniors and juniors and starting
an infamous battle ‘seniors versus juniors'.
Fielding is definitely one of the
drawbacks of Team India and it also always been so but Dhoni’s argument of not
being able to play the ‘Top 3’ for their friending abilities defies logic. If good fielding sides would result in sure
wins New Zealand which has consistently been one of the best friending sides
would have definitely had much better record. So having good fielders won’t
necessarily win you matches which are decided by batsman and bowlers with
fielding playing a supporting role. Yes Sachin and Sehwag have been in awful
form in the series but dropping them for their solely fielding abilities is
insane. Saving 20 odd runs make no difference when your team bundles out below
200 on a regular basis.
Captaincy is as much of skills as
it is diplomacy. A captain should know what to speak in a press conference and
what to hide from the media. Dhoni’s honest attitude and revealing it all to
the media hasn’t worked in favour of the team. He has lost his calmness, Midas
touch and should find ways to adjust with the situation around him. Being
candid isn’t always the right thing to do especially when the odd are stacked
against you. It’s time that we try taking each series as it comes and forget
about building a team for the 2015 World Cup or else a 2007 like early exit
isn’t unlikely.
