Yoohoo, Sourav Ganguly has been recalled to the Indian cricket team! As The Telegraph reports, it’s a "debacle" for India’s cricket coach, Greg Chappell.
A year ago, I wrote the Chappie should be fired after he gave the finger to Indian cricket fans in Calcutta (Kolkata) who were protesting against the local hero, Ganguly, being dropped from the team after a spat with him.
I wonder how the abominable Aussie had the gall to insult the fans even after the Indian team lost that match.
Maybe the Chappie knew the Indian cricket control board would take no action against him. He was right. He continues to coach the Indian team despite its disgraceful performance under him.
Now the Indians have finally been hammered in South Africa, skittled out for 91 runs — 91 runs in a one-day international! — the Indian team selectors have finally caved in to public pressure and recalled Ganguly for the Test matches against South Africa starting this month.
It’s true Ganguly was in poor form as a batsman when he was dropped from the team. But he has an excellent record as the team captain. He led India to the 2003 World Cup finals and holds the Indian record for the most number of Test victories as the team captain from 2000 to 2005. He has scored more than 5,000 runs in Tests and more than 10,000 in one-day internationals. And a man with a record like that was dropped on the insistence of a foreign coach who had just taken charge of the team!
Chappell and his brother, Ian, who was the Australian cricket captain, were infamous for their unsporting behaviour. He should have never been appointed India’s cricket coach in the first place. He has merely sown dissension in the team, led it into a bad patch and nearly succeeded in wrecking Ganguly’s career.
And he even insulted Indian members of parliament. When questions were raised in parliament about India’s poor performance in South Africa, he remarked, "āIām not surprised. They (MPs) are paid to do so in Parliament." At least, he had the good sense to avoid the B-word: bribed.
Actually, this abominable Aussie can be crafty too.
He was infamously involved in an underarm bowling incident in a New Zealand-Australia one-day international in 1981. His brother, Ian, ordered him to bowl underarm, thus ensuring Australia would win the match and avoid a tie. Their unsporting behaviour caused an outcry. Both brothers later expressed regret and embarrassment. But maybe that was just for public consumption. Mean Greg, the abominable Aussie, continues to make mischief in India. And he gets away with it, even now.
Even after the debacle in South Africa — and the recall of Ganguly — India’s chief selector, Dilip Vengsarkar, denied that Chappell’s performance as coach was under scrutiny. ""He has been appointed till the World Cup (next year). The players have to perform. He can plan, strategies and coach. But can’t go out and play," said Vengsarkar, absolving the coach of all responsibility for the team’s poor performance. Why have a coach at all, then, if he can’t improve the team?
The abominable Aussie will, no doubt, be happy to keep his job. After all, he shows no sign of leaving. Why should he walk away from a job that pays him about $175,000 a year? Not only is the Chappie getting paid good money; he can also insult the "natives", who seem to be turning the other cheek to the "sahib".
Yes, the Chappie was brought in last year on a two-year contract to coach the Indian team till the World Cup in West Indies next year. But surely, the contract can be terminated. The Indian cricket control board surely makes enough money from match receipts and television rights in cricket-crazy India to pay compensation to the Chappie.
Mike Selvey, writing in the Guardian, says: "Knowing Greg, I suspect he would welcome Ganguly if he demonstrates form, fitness and commitment."
Oh yes, he will certainly grin and bear it. The Chappie’s got no choice if he wants to keep his job. If he doesn’t quit now even after the return of Ganguly, whom he dropped from the team, we will know he can be not only rude and insulting but is quite thick-skinned too.
I, of course, write as a Bengali from Calcutta. Naturally, I am delighted that Ganguly, also a Bengali from Calcutta, has finally got the better of the abominable Aussie.
Related posts:
