Kangaroos ‘Chappelled’

By P.Muraleedharan

Greg Chappell has done it again. And with what efficiency! The best test team in the cricketing world has been reduced to a losing bunch of frustrated individuals, riven by discord and indiscipline. It seems, Team India should thank Chappell for making the tough as nails Aussies as vulnerable as Indians were when he was their coach!

The former India coach and the head of Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, is again in India as an advisor to the Kangaroos, to help them tackle the Indians more ‘professionally’.

Weren’t the Aussies overjoyed with this achievement! Pace man Brett Lee’s words sum up the feeling that the Aussie dressing room shared then. "We will definitely be picking his brains for every little bit of knowledge and experience he’s gained... I think he’ll be a very key member of the Australian team… He’s here and he’s wearing Australian colours. What he had done for the Indian players had been brilliant, but he’s moved on, taken up a new challenge and that’s great for us."

And what happened? The all-conquering Baggy Greens failed to capitalise on the upper hand they had in the Bangalore test. Their aggressive spirit, which was mocked at by Zaheer Khan, was sorely missing. In the second test, on a good batting wicket where the ball was coming to the blade nicely, Aussie batsman drew a blank. The team, known for totting up big scores at a brisk pace, was just occupying the crease as though they feared something dreadful might happen to them any time! Was that a Chappell-effect? By the end of third day, the ‘gritty’ Aussies were on the mat, psychologically.

There was another interesting side show. Brett Lee had an open spat with skipper Ricky Ponting as the fastest bowler in the world was not called for bowling at the Indians. Though things were patched up soon, it was evident that tension was simmering in the Aussie dressing room. Now, it almost resembles the Indian dressing room, when ‘Chappellji’ was at the helm.

In 2005, when he took over as the Indian coach for a princely remuneration of $1,75,000 per year, everybody felt, here was somebody who could take India to the top, overtaking Australia in the process. For, India had secured an honourable draw against a full-strength Australia in their back yard the previous year.

But, in a few months, the whole picture changed. He made the winningest Indian test captain, Sourav Ganguly, who was instrumental in making India a force to reckon with, a mental wreck and sowed the seeds of dissension in the dressing room. Indeed, he made laudable experiments, led India to a record 17 consecutive one-day victories when batting second. But, he made the team what it was before: Bully at home and chicken-hearted on foreign soil. Under Chappell, Indian away record was: 32 wins, 27 defeats. In tests, there was just a win worth remembering, the one at Port of Spain in West Indies.

A team, which was the runners up in 2003-World Cup, lost in the first round in the 2007 edition of World Cup under him. And the gentleman, who ruled Indian team with the skipper Dravid helplessly looking on, had the temerity to say that everybody in the team was responsible for the fiasco! He even suggested that senior players like Sachin Tendulkar did not show enough commitment, which comment had Sachin coming out openly against him. Anyway, he put in his papers soon after, before getting the sack.

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar had said last year, after Chappell resigned from his post, “…at the end of his tenure, Indian cricket is down in the dumps with a first-round exit in the World Cup, and is fractured and divided as seldom before… The batting, which should have flourished under the guidance of someone recognised as one of the game's best batsmen, has looked tentative and unsure and has lost the spark that made India's cricket team such a must-see for cricket lovers.” And on his name being considered for the post of the head coach of the Australian Cricket Academy, Gavaskar said with typical sarcasm, "If true, then it could be the best thing that has happened for world cricket. Now even Ireland has a chance of beating Australia sooner rather than later.” Is that what is happening now? Gavaskar must be chuckling!

Team Australia is already down in the dumps. It will need nothing less than a miracle for them to even secure draws at the turners in Delhi and Kanpur. To make it happen, the die-hard Aussie spirit has to be revived. We, as cricket aficionados, look forward to that.

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