BCCI Faces Its Toughest Challenge

[Sanz]

But that's precisely my point! All these years you don't read anything like this about Sachin.

All these years Sachin Tendulkar was performing, so no one was questionning his place. Now he is not, his place is in question, he is asked to come out of his comfort zone, which he hasn't liked.

And Sachin has whined a lot in his career, just take a look at his statements as captain.

 

[Sanz]

"It hurts when coach questions our attitude, says Tendulkar"

So change the attitude, and it won't be questioned anymore.

Too much to ask, isn't it ?

 

[vic_orthdox]

I think the biggest problem in the whole thing is the "media leaks" from both sides, and you'd have to ask yourself about the media's role in the whole thing. I know in Australia, that there's "on the record" and "off the record" conversations that you have with journalists, but the impression that you get from some of the stuff reported in the Indian press that there's no such differential, and that they report everything they hear, whether second hand or not. I wouldn't be surprised if leaks from both sides were far from intentional.

EDIT: I mean, looking at those two articles quoted earlier on this page, there are such in depth quotes from this "senior player" and that "senior player", but they're not attributed to anyone. Usually you'd find such sentiments being paraphrased without being directly quoted. It all just seems a little weird.

 

[shortpitched713]

Of course, these could all be lies and I could be wrong, but from what I am reading from multiple sources, I've lost a lot of respect for EVERYONE involved, except Kumble.

I seriously doubt that even the senior players involved right now weren't trying to win for India in the World Cup, and that being said what the hell has Dravid done to deserve your scorn? You seem to be brushing all of the Indian players with your same steryotypical strokes, and sacking the whole team is likely to greatly hurt the team and unlikely to help even in the long term.

What had happened in the World Cup is obviously the result of the failure of both the players and the coach, but getting rid of everyone is only going to make matters worse and will not solve anything. The relationship between Chappell and the team is one that cannot work at this point so he definitely needs to go, but the players should not go unpunished as well. A new, strong coach needs to be brought in and he needs to have the complete backing of the board and the new captain, who needs to command the respect of all of the players. Dravid is obviously not that man, but its hard to say who really is. Players that had not performed under the Chappell regime need to be dropped, as it is unlikely they will perform well under the new regime, but those that had performed should not have to suffer the same fate.

 

[pup11]

Chappell is being presented as a villian by the media and the players, but IMO only mistake Chappell made was that he was honest with what he said and in Indian cricket thats not how things work.


If Chappell would have stayed quite taken his fat pay-check and left for Adeliade nobody would have had a problem, but he has dared to stand up against the big names of Indian cricket so he would surely have some valid reason to do that.

 

[pup11]

Look the Indian team has got a serious attitude problem, John Wright was nice enough to not expose this aspect of Indian cricket, but don't expect that from Chappell.


They have got knocked out of the WC in the first round itself but rather than trying to improve for the future they are just busy trying to blame Greg Chappell for everything that went wrong with them at the WC.


Is Chappell supposed to bat, bowl and field for them now.

 

[honestbharani]

It is very easy to say "Throw away everyone.Build a new team".But then one question arises.Who are the replacements?If India can offer better players than these so-called seniors evenif they are 40 or 17,I don't care,I can agree with you.As per a new article I have read(Checkout it,it is in cricinfo) the Indian players were not happy with the coach.And how can there be a team if there is no unity between coach and players.There are 2 solutions.Change the players or change the coach and captain.The second one would be easy and better because Chappell and Dravid are the most pathetic coach and captain I've ever seen.
The other solution is to retain chappell and make karthik the captain and raina the vice captain.They will certainly win you the next worldcup.Oh,God....please learn from mistakes.

As I said earlier, I would rather lose with a team who are united and committed than win with a side that is full of egos and are disjointed and have attitude problems.

 

[honestbharani]

that it is...why would anyone gang up against such a nice guy like dravid(assuming these stories have some truth in them)? was he as much under chappell's thumb as is being projected? the players seem almost unanimous in their rejection of chappell and i can understand bad, abrasive man-management by chappell spinning off into that kind of an attitude but could it be that they are mostly protesting against changing their set ways and just refusing to make the necessary effort to become more professional, fit and focussed on winning? if so, these prima donnas need to go, so does the coach(although he might just possibly do better with a more receptive/younger group of players), i am not sure about the captain either way, one thing is for sure, he needs to be more assertive....

yep, esp. considering how much Dravid has done for the team....... I mean SAchin and Sourav and these guys haven't sacrificed even half as much as Dravid has for the team's sake.

 

[honestbharani]

But that's precisely my point! All these years you don't read anything like this about Sachin. The previous coach went out of his way to praise the senior group in the team. That is why I find it difficult to believe what is being said.
Anyway, its just one group's word against another. You shouldn't jump to conclusions.
Also, I think Dravid might end up retaining his captaincy but yeah, Chappell is in all probability out.

Look, it is not improbable at all that Sachin has behaved that way. He is no Dravid. He didn't like it when Wright and Sourav asked him to bat at #4 before last WC and he just kept pestering them till he got his favourite position. Sure, he did well, but look what happened to Sourav and Sehwag. He didn't move out of 4 at Sydney (Sourav openly said that he wanted VVS to bat there, because he was in the form of his life and Sachin wasn't in great form)... His captaincy was a flop because he refused to change his ideas of certain players and kept backing them. He does seem to be very "set" in his ideas and doesn't seem to take change that well. Not that anything he did so far has cost India anything even remotely near to what it has cost INdia this time.


Chappell is wrong and he should go, no two ways about it. But so should these guys who can't even co-operate to them even during the WC.

 

[adharcric]

It is not so surprising to see all Tendulkar fans coming out of the closet to defend Tendulkar and Chappell has suddenly become the evil man for the same thing he has been doing for two years.

The difference is that earlier he didn't question the GOD of Indian Cricket and the moment he questions the performance of Sri SachinTendulkarJi Maharaj, all knives are out to get Tendulkar.

Tendulkar fans? SS and I are two of his "worshippers", right? Now go back and read the posts that have been made in this thread before getting too excited about nothing.

EDIT: By the way, there is no way you can conclude that either the seniors, the coach or the captain are primarily to blame at this point. (despite all of them certainly being at least partially to blame). Everyone seems to be open to the possibility of either Tendulkar, Ganguly, Chappell or Dravid turning out to be the disgraceful member except you - Tendulkar by default, isn't it? Oh wait, you hate Chappell too ... tough one. Seriously ...

 

[Jono]

Sanz you act so friggin' immature sometimes its unbelievable.

 

[Nishant]

Tendulkar fans? SS and I are two of his "worshippers", right? Now go back and read the posts that have been made in this thread before getting too excited about nothing.

EDIT: By the way, there is no way you can conclude that either the seniors, the coach or the captain are primarily to blame at this point. (despite all of them certainly being at least partially to blame). Everyone seems to be open to the possibility of either Tendulkar, Ganguly, Chappell or Dravid turning out to be the disgraceful member except you - Tendulkar by default, isn't it? Oh wait, you hate Chappell too ... tough one. Seriously ...

True....we dont know who is telling the truth...it could be chappell, trying to save himself....or it could be tendulkar trying to save his image! But on friday/saturday...we'll be find out who is retained and who is fired! IMO...if chappell stays, so will Dravid with his captaincy....but tendulkar crew will be dropped. If chappell goes, i see tendulkar as the new captain! Or at least one of the 'mafia'!

 

[silentstriker]

yep, esp. considering how much Dravid has done for the team....... I mean SAchin and Sourav and these guys haven't sacrificed even half as much as Dravid has for the team's sake.

How do you figure that?

 

[Nishant]

How do you figure that?

True....we dont know how much each one has sacrificed TBH...or if they have sacrificed at all!

 

[silentstriker]

Well, after saying he won't quit, Chappell has quit.

Not huge news, considering he was going to be fired anyway.

 

[viktor]

Look, it is not improbable at all that Sachin has behaved that way. He is no Dravid. He didn't like it when Wright and Sourav asked him to bat at #4 before last WC and he just kept pestering them till he got his favourite position. Sure, he did well, but look what happened to Sourav and Sehwag. He didn't move out of 4 at Sydney (Sourav openly said that he wanted VVS to bat there, because he was in the form of his life and Sachin wasn't in great form)... His captaincy was a flop because he refused to change his ideas of certain players and kept backing them. He does seem to be very "set" in his ideas and doesn't seem to take change that well. Not that anything he did so far has cost India anything even remotely near to what it has cost INdia this time.


Chappell is wrong and he should go, no two ways about it. But so should these guys who can't even co-operate to them even during the WC.

Wanting to bat at a certain position isn't having bad attitude (IMO); its having an opinion.
I am not anointing Sachin God. I am sure he has had his issues. That doesn't mean he didn't put 100% into the team cause.
The point I am making is, you guys seem to be equating poor performance with a bad attitude. I don't think that isn't necessarily so.
I personally am majorly pissed at all these leaks. That is the only reason why I think Chappell should go. Also, it stands to reason that if Chappell had been doing this, in spite of repeated warnings/requests, shouldn't he be to blame for a bad attitude. The players can only be accused of not being professional enough not to be affected by this.
edit: deleted a line clarifying my lack of bias

 

[viktor]

Yep, was to be expected. May be he will give all the low down, at least as he sees it.

 

[Matt79]

Pretty crappy situation really. The problem for the "senior player" mafia is that none of them are actually any good at the moment, so regardless of the rights and wrongs, I'd be reluctant to sack the coach and India's best player just to appease them. I seriously doubt any of Tendulkar, Harbi or especially Ganguly are going to, from this point forward, make the contribution to India's performances that Dravid will.

The best solution IMO would be for Chappell to be "persuaded" to resign - as opposed to being sacked - and this opportunity be taken to cull some of the troublesome members of the squad. Come out and say that this is a clean out aimed at making the Indian team the best in the world by the 2011 World Cup and explain that it might mean some short term pain but its with a definite plan towards that goal. Bring in the players that you think have the potential to make India #1 by 2011 now, and have the willingness to do the work required to achieve that, and be prepared to stick with them as they grow into the roles. Australia had to do much the same in the mid-80s by sticking kids like Steve Waugh, Dean Jones, and Boony in - picked as much for their perceived character/mental toughness as their cricketing talent. They got hammered for a couple of years, but grew into the nucleus of the team that won a world cup, regained the Ashes, and went a long way down the road of becoming the best team in the world. India has the talent there - the problem seems to me to be getting them the window of opportunity to make it happen.

I think the overwhelming majority of historical cases would show that short-term fixes (ie same team with new coach) or the revivals of the recent past (ie recalling older players who's best days are behind them) doesn't produce sustained success.

 

[Matt79]

Haha - that's what happens when you take 20 minutes to make a post - events overtake you!

 

[Matt79]

It was, at this stage, the best thing he could do for Indian cricket. And probably for himself, truth be told.