The Hindu : Sport : Not the best of starts for Greg Chappell

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 01, 2005

Sport

Sport

Not the best of starts for Greg Chappell

S. Ram Mahesh

PHOTO: V.V. KRISHNAN

MUM'S THE WORD: Despite having a bad day on day one, Greg Chappell won't be too worried as India did wll against the West Indies on Sunday.

Dambulla: So Greg Chappell had a disappointing first day at office — out-thought by fellow Aussie Tom Moody and out-shouldered by Sanath Jayasuriya, right?

Not quite. And no, the acrid smell of the axe on grindstone isn't pervading the air around the BCCI.

For one, it wasn't even Chappell's first day at office, just his first ODI as Indian coach. For another, defeating Sri Lanka in its lair in the last decade has been about as easy as convincing a bear caught in a trap to get its tooth engraved.

The men from the Emerald Isle had lost only one of their last nine matches at home before their match against India, and they improved it to one in ten. Buoyed by a crowd that drums up rhythms that course through their bodies, the Lankans are tested only when the opposition is at full-strength and performing at its peak.

V.V.S. Laxman's back picked the wrong morning to twinge. His pullout cut any remaining fat in an already scrawny batting line-up. "Missing Laxman — you know a player like Laxman — on the morning of the game is not easy," said Rahul Dravid. "But we gave a couple of young guys a chance and had to do a bit of shuffling."

One of the young guys — Venugopala Rao — did well; the other — Suresh Raina — couldn't negotiate his first delivery in ODIs: a Muralitharan `doosra'. As Dravid pointed out, it's time for the experienced guys to "put their hands up and be counted".

Ian Chappell has always maintained that the day the coach becomes indispensable will be the day he starts making runs, snaring wickets, and taking catches. His work unlike that of a football coach's is more passive: thumbing through dog-eared dossiers (or cricketing databases), facilitating the generation of ideas, thinking up drills, and plotting the opposition's demise.

Knowing the right experts — baseball coaches, yoga instructors, bio mechanists — to call up helps. So does an intimate knowledge of Sun-Tzu and the latest management techniques.

But once the team is out in the middle, the coach can do little except look suitably pleased or worried. A few words thought up in the relative calm of the dressing room may help, but the skipper's call is final. Or should be.

There is no gainsaying Greg Chappell's pedigree as a cricketer or thinker. Few can fail to be impressed by the lucidity of his thought, the depth of his knowledge. But can he convince the Indians to buy into his vision and ideas?

"Greg is a good communicator and that's always important in this kind of job," said Ranjit Fernando, the former Sri Lankan wicketkeeper. "He is very good with the basics and the improvement in Indian players will be seen over time."

Fernando also said there was little Dravid missed as captain in the match against Sri Lanka, except perhaps pepper Jayasuriya with a few short ones.

"We didn't have enough runs, we didn't bat well enough," said Dravid on what split the two sides. "I thought Sanath's innings was the difference between us winning and losing."

The move to play Yuvraj Singh at three can be questioned. His record at that position isn't great. Maybe it was because the Indian think-tank, cognisant of his weakness against spin, didn't want him to start his innings against Muralitharan. The decision to play three seamers — all left-armers — thus robbing the attack of variety is also debatable.

But all this is nitpicking in hindsight. As Dravid said when asked if he could have played a different combination, "We could have. We could have done a lot of things, but we picked the team based on what we thought was the best available team for the conditions."

It shouldn't be forgotten that the Indian team fought back brilliantly — an effort commended by Marvan Atapattu and Jayasuriya who said he never thought the game was ever in the bag.

But in this age of instant gratification, `almost' never cuts ice. "Greg needs to have control of a lot of factors in Indian cricket," said Fernando. "But unfortunately for him, as national coach, the results need to be immediate. He'll be judged on whether India win or not."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport