If you looked hard at the facts, an alternate storyline existed, it was just that the media did not want to pick it up…how about “Standing in the queue for 24 hrs waiting to buy a ticket, forgoing all your hard earned money for a ticket, watching a game in the hot sun, watch your side thrashed by 10 wickets, and then the coach to be showing you the finger”?

The purpose of the new storyline is not to sympathize with the Eden Gardens crowd or justify their action; instead it is to present alternative viewpoints and whatever be the viewpoint, Greg Chappell cannot justify his action.

The line of thinking that I have seen till now has been that the middle-finger salute is common among the western world and Greg Chappell just did what he had to do (it was almost like his birth right!). To a football (soccer) fan, all this must look like drama; I am sure anyone who follows football is thinking, So what? This is a daily situation in the football field, when a team does not play well, or if a person does not play well, they heckle him, boo him…why the heck….the great Sir Alex Fergusson was booed & heckled by his own supporters this month when his team lost to Lille in the champions league…had Sir Alex shown the finger, that would have been the end of his career! Anywhere in the world, this would have been a serious issue, so let’s not give Chappell the benefit of doubt, thinking that it’s an accepted practice worldwide.

The crowd is within its right to do what they want, as long as they do not do anything illegal. Don’t bring up words like ‘loyalty’ or that the ‘team is playing for the crowd’ sentiment. Its rubbish! In the world of commercialization, loyalty has no meaning! Just because I keep buying tickets to all ODI/Tests for 10 years, BCCI does not make me an honorary member!

Agreed, that Chappell has done almost everything right since he took over, but this unfortunately is not one of them. To let him off easily because he has done most things right would be sending a wrong message. Chappell needs to apologize to the Eden gardens crowd or the people to whom he showed the finger & BCCI should definitely reprimand him for this.

Eden Gardens has a mind off its own; no one needs to take classes to the 90,000 spectators on how to behave. They have been doing this before Saurav came to cricket (Sunil Gavaskar episode) & they have been doing this when Saurav was playing (Test match; India vs Pakistan) and will continue to do in the future. We just have to accept that Eden Gardens is different and get on with the game. The beauty of India is its diversity; let’s not try to make everyplace look similar. We might end up with a very boring world!

Arun: But in asking everyone to accept the crowd at Eden Garden as they are, aren't you saying that what they did was ok?
As a audience, they have caused a lot more incidents than the rest of the Test centers in India, put together. Ofcourse nothing can be done about it, but accepting it as inevitable is not the right way to do it, especially because you are faulting Chappell for reacting!

Dude, its called attitude. Just because he is working with the Indian team, he does not need to
sit quiet while getting booed. So much for your excuse of standing in line to ask him for a excuse.

Arun: It is important to understand why the crowd was booing and heckling in the first place. It was not because the Indian team did not play well. It was because Ganguly was kept out of the team. The booing and heckling started well before the match and it was on Thursday night when Chappel raised the middle finger.

I don't think the Kolkata crowd has a right to boo the Indian team just because a Bengali player was not included in the team.

Good job Arun.So much for Chappell's attitude.Because he is coaching Indian team he should be knowing about Eden Gardens and it's cricket loving crowd

The crowd's behaviour has not changed, as Arun pointed out, in more than twenty years. Besides hey, Chappell didn't show an offensive gesture. It was just a coincidence that his middle finger was injured ;)

jagadish - http://cricket24x7.blogspot.com/

Interesting. But on what proof is your claim based -that if Fergusson showed the middle finger, he would lose his job? I doubt he would be in more trouble than Chappell.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I feel that each & everyone are entitled to their opinion(s) and hence will not agree or disagree with any of them. I would merely answer pointed questions here.

aNTi: But in asking everyone to accept the crowd at Eden Garden as they are, aren't you saying that what they did was ok?

aNTi, All that I am saying is that Eden Gardens has a history of being a tough (sometimes unruly crowd) venue & we have to accept it. Btw, Eden Gardens has also given us some great moments - remember the hero cup final? – The spontaneous paper torches. They have always done it in their own style. The crowd in Eden Gardens is not the ‘typical Indian crowd’, we just have to accept it as a very demanding venue & move on.

Sudheesh: But on what proof is your claim based -that if Fergusson showed the middle finger, he would lose his job?

Sudheesh, that’s just my assumption… based on having followed EPL for a long time and how all the teams place so much importance on their fans.

On a general note: All I am saying is that there can be no justification for Chappell’s behavior. Imagine if a president visits a country (or in his own country) & that if people protest over his policies and then the president shows the protesters the finger!

I am not a Spiderman fan, but to quote the oft repeated cliché: “With great power comes great responsibility”

Arun: I know that your focus is on Chappell's finger waving, but crowd behaviour in Calcutta has been appalling these past few years. I think Eden Gardens is escaping without censure only because of its facilities and you know who's clout. I wonder if similar reactions from crowds in smaller venues would be viewed the same way. That is my point.

sure, the finger is Not Acceptable. It doesnt matter if the chap is Australian or Martian.
But for me, Eden Gardens' behavious in the recent past is equally apalling.
If different is wrong, it is not made right by the point of being 'different', which is essentially what you say about the calcutta crowd.

Andre Nel swore, stared, and sledged "in the spirit of sport", and there were justifications saying the game needs characters like these.. but he was still fined eventually. Because he crossed that thin line between aggression and unruliness.

It applies to the Calcuta crowd too. It might be, well, emotional and spontaneous, but it still doesn't mean it can boo a team off for as petty a fact that its most celebrated state player wasn't in the side. If people hold demontrations and threaten to hold up matches for these reasons, then Chennai would never host a game! :) Look at the way Balaji, Ramesh to name a few have been shunted aside for no fault of theirs.

Oops, I'm digressing. If the public can bring a player into the side by holding demonstrations, why have 5 selectors? I believe the Calcutta crowd really should learn to behave.

Arun, It was I have to admit a brave move on your part to try and defend what in many ways is the indefensible. As an expatriate Calcuttan (oops sorry Kolkata...never did get into terms with that, not when I am not using the vernacular.)I have fond memories of Eden Gardens. It pains me to think that such repeated boorish behaviour on part of a section of the crowd, might rob Eden gardens of cricket. Such a day if it arises would indeed be a sad day for Indian cricket and many of the city's erudite and knowledgeable cricket lovers. And believe me there are many (probably even the majority), who have been as pained and disgusted with what happened thatday.

Eden Garden's penchant for throwing up a partisan crowd is as you have pointed out, historical. But I wonder if everyone remembers that the reason was not always so parochial. Gavasker was thrown stones not a passion for any home grown lad but because of the 'unfair' dropping of Kapil Dev. The crowd disrupted the India-Pakistan match because of Tendulkar's dismissal through Shoaib's somewhat unsportsmanlike behaviour.

I do not condone the crowd's behaviour. But I say let's not kick a man (in the collective sense) when he is down. After all an achievement starved region has been deprived of their only sporting hero to speak of. I wonder how the crowd at Wankehede would react if Tendulkar was dropped (I hope fervently THAT never happens) for what were strictly speaking not cricketing reasons..

I see i have rambled on... my apologies and a wish that we Bengali's learn to be less passionate about what's after all only a game, and not rob Eden Gardens of its cricket...

Amen!

How ever the fans at Eden Gardens behaved Chapell has no grounds for flipping of the Indian crowd.
The Bengali fans had the right to show their displeasure and Chapell needs to show respect whatever the crowd.

I just wanted to ask what if the match was a world cup final ? Will the crowd behave the same way? It is an exaggerated patriotism which was unnecessary.

Hi Arun
After reading your article and the reactions in some of the comments,
I have only one thing to ponder upon & that is do 2 wrongs make a right ?
Eden is known for its 'hatke' attitude but what it did last Friday (and i was at the ground) was actually abysmal. Just as it was on that December afternoon in 1983 with Gavaskar and in 84 December with Gavaskar-Shastri again. On the flip side is the Hero Cup semi-final & final and Australia Test 2001 and many others. The fact is that Eden is whimsical and 'mobbish' if that is a word we can use. Reason is thrown out of the window at the slightest pretext. While Eden used to be a knowledgeable crowd till about 20 years back it has ceased to be so since the last 20 odd years, since the texture of the crowd has itself changed and the reasons for that is not relevant to this forum.
However, barracking is also a part of all sports and cannot be eschewed from any place. The fact remains that the crowd on Thursday evening was actually chanting "Go back Chappell" and something similar. If any expletives were used they were either in Bengali & Hindi which Chappell wouldn't have picked up in that short time unless the otherwise multi-faceted man happens to be a linguist too ! So pray, why did he get so provoked for him to 'up' it. Was this the first time that a coach or a player was being provoked? Is it the only place where ‘crowds’ misbehave ? Is his fuse so short ?
Moving slightly away from the specific 'finger issue', can anyone tell me why is this team suddenly being called 'Team Chappell' across the media in the country instead of 'Team India' or 'Men in Blue' as it was called till a few days back ? Since when did cricket became a coach driven game ? Should we now have non-playing captains in Cricket too ala Davis/Fed Cups ? Or will we soon see the advent of the super-skips like super-subs ? Is this unneccessary focus & hype on Chappell acceptable to Dravid who is in some quarters being looked at as a puppet ? Is it doing justice to his incisive cricketing brain ?
Lest we forget and here's the irony, the great Ian Chappell who was a far more mercurial and influential cricketing brain, team motivator and a more respected captain than Greg ever was, said during the Sri-Lanka series with his inimitable candidness that a coach can at most value-add 5% to a Team's cricket performance on the field, and his main role is handling off the field issues. In light of this does anyone have the answers to the above? Which of the siblings are we to believe ?
A last poser, if Pakistan needs 6 runs to win off the last ball of the final odi next year (series 2-2) and Greg asks Dravid to tell Irfan to bowl the last one 'underarm' who would we blame Dravid or Chappell or will we praise Chappell's brilliant 'experiment' ? Raj hangover, eh ? .....
Hopefully, it will not happen, because an 'underarm' is 'illegitimate' now and a 'no ball'. I am sure the learned man knows the 'rules' if not the 'spirit' !!

As the Hindustan Times as mentioned "Indian crowds are touch too emotional for chapell taste but they dont deserve such treatment". The important thing to note is is that everywhere people supports the home country and booes the opponets , whether the opponents coach would do that . The person of chappell stature should have no right to do it.

Calcutta crowd behaved irresponsibly. They had no right to boo Dravid. Infact Dravid was the one who didnt let Ganguly to return from Zimbabwe cause he is a gentleman. As far as the accusation of different cities are concerned. I am a Bangalorean and strictly speaking Dravid was not born in this state yet any one from Karnataka is dropped there would not be such a bad display of temper.

I remember the World-cup semi final match (IND/SL) wherein the security personnel of the ground had to vacate the ground so that the match cud run smoothly and also the test match betn IND/PAK, wherein same thing was applied again. And then, I had read it in a magazine that Arjuna Ranatunga was getting hell lot of letters as apologising for the behavior. This happened for almost one year after the incident. But this time the behaviour was totally opposite. The cheer was for SA team instead of INDIAN team. Ganguly has contributed a lot to build the Indian team let there be no doubt in anyone's mind. But he cannot take his position for granted the sport and nation comes before all these individuals. Even Tendulkar and Dravid come later. We shud be remembering that when Tendulkar was not doing well as a captain (I mean his batting), he stepped-down by himself. Similarly, Ganguly shud have stepped-down instead of getting kicked-out disgracefully. I have lots of regards for Ganguly, bcoz I know he was the only guy who had the gutts to fight out with the BCCI board to get the team he wanted, which others (his predecessors) including Tendulkar didn't have. But again, my regards for Cricket and INDIA are much higher and they come much before those for Ganguly. So Kolkatans must understand and follow SPIRIT. We shud not thrash the players after their dismal performances. After all they are also human beings. And Dravid has done the right thing by acknowledging the MUMBAI crowd. This shows that even the coolest and calmest WALL of India has got irked with Kolkata crowd behaviour.

I don't think there is any thing to cry about. What is sports without emotions? No one can say that the Eden gardens crowd were at their worst. They just gave vent to their emotions and that's it. As for Chappel's finger it is never conclusive whether it was deliberate or not.
So lets leave that behind. It is sensational episodes like these that keep people interested and Indian cricket has had plenty of them in the last 3 months. The world would be a boring place to live in if everyone is perfect.

I feel that Arun's article, however well written and persuasive it was, missed the point slightly. The real issue here is why would a crowd of 'Indian' supporters boo their national coach who, as shown in the Ind/SL series had not put a foot wrong? Just because their hero Sourav was not in the team is no reason to vent their spleen on a team that is finally performing. Perhaps Chappell was out of line but he must feel a tad frustrated knowing that despite the good performances the side has been recently putting up, all of India is still not behind him.

“Standing in the queue for 24 hrs waiting to buy a ticket, forgoing all your hard earned money for a ticket, watching a game in the hot sun, watch your side thrashed by 10 wickets, and then the coach to be showing you the finger”?

I thought the whole thing happened before the match, after a practice session.

And what's the big deal. A crowd heckled a guy, the guy pointed a finger at them. SO WHAT? Just continue heckling him if that's what you come for. And heckle they did - not just Chappel but the whole team. Reason? everyone knows.
Nobody should pretend that India is one country, at least in a cultural sense (at the same time we do MUCH better than the EU, so we are good;) - so there is no need to blame the crowd. It was a pretty 'natural' thing to happen - would happen in Mumbai if Sachin is dropped. But then, nobody needs to sympathize with the Kolkatta crowd either.
And Chappel ain't president or anything - with "great power" and so on - besides, he is doing just fine with his great responsibility, that of preparing the Indian team for the on-field stuff.

i would agree with what harsha has said.love towards INDIA shud come prior to everything.not ganguly,not sachin.kolkatans cant bhave in the way they did just bcoz there was no place 4ganguly in the team.if the bengalis think ganguly is a bengali rather than indian then the better place 4him to play cricket wil b in bengal team not in indian team

Seemingly any issue in Indian Cricket is only 5 minutes away from being blown far out of proportion by the media, who know that sensational headlines regarding cricket make good ratings, and lead to increased revenue.
It's the media who have come up with the label "Team Chappell", it's the media who have perhaps taken the photo of Chappell's finger out of context, and it's only they who stand to benefit.
Focus on what happens on the field, ignore the garbage that happens off it, and hopefully the media will notice the change, and cater to the game instead of everything but.

Arun,

I was drawn to your post because of the headline, but the contents talk about something else altogether! If you are upset that the one-sided game doesn't justify your ticket money, then you should be asking the question of the BCCI (for staging a day-night match) or the curator (for the state of the pitch).

On the other hand, if you wanted to address the issue of the alleged "finger salute" then you cannot claim that it was aimed at the crowd - a bus can hardly be surrounded by 100,000 fans. It could have been aimed at a nagging mediaperson or an errant fellow commuter!

Three comments:

1. Chappell was wrong to show the finger and should apologize or be reprimanded. No questions, no debate.

2. The Calcutta crowd was out of order. It has not been the first time and it will not be the last. Not until we stop justifying it with the "we are like this only" line.

3. The fact of the matter is that the Kolkattans cannot stomach losing and react negatively when they feel let down - either by the team or by the dropping of a favourite son.

Any justifaction - of either Chappell's or the crowd's behavoiour is an untenable argument.

Great post.

The crowd's behavior was horrible, agreed. And if someone would suggest that a temporary ban be placed on matches staged at Eden Gardens, that could be discussed too (I disagree with the last paragraph entirely). But that's NOT the point here. It's not about what provoked the man. It's about what resulted due to that provocation.And showing the middle finger if just not done.

Hey, it does not get bigger than being the coach of the Indian team. And being the incumbent of such an important position, one just cannot make an obscene gesture. It's just not done.

I remember, just before the 1992 European cup (in France?), Stefan Effenberg, then the lynchpin of the German football team, was sent back home for showing the digitus impudicus at a certain section of the crowd which was heckling him. Adn that was during the practice session! I think he was never picked to play again for Germany.
Also, Greg was regularly booed in New Zealand after the underarm incident while he was playing as captain FOR AUSTRALIA. I wonder, where was the middle finger then? I'll tell you why. Because, if you are playing (or coaching) for Australia and you stick out the finger, you will be out. And well, as I see, in India it is a different story altogether.

Ok, I know this became more of a rant than a comment.

Dravid gave the kolkotta crowd a nice answer in Mumbai.

People of Kolkotta just did not deserve to be thanked by dravid as he did in Mumbai

Chappell and the media - both quite pathetic. In that sense they are made for each other.

Crowds will be crowds - you just need to take it on the chin and move on. Kolkata has given us unforgettable memories as well - the 2001 victory most notably with India being proudly led by Saurav against Chappell's own Australia.

Indian team being called 'Team Chappell' - how demeaning that is. The biggest irony is that Chappell never even played a match in India in his entire career. Kerry Packer was of course more important.

Kolkata is justifiably proud of people like Saurav - it hurt them deeply that he was dropped and they showed it. Let's not criticise them for baring their hearts and revealing their true emotions.

It still bothers me that between Chappell an unproven Coach and Ganguly, India's best ever captain, they chose Chappell.

Flawed Indian psyche perhaps or the result of the successful machinations of people in the media who have their own agenda or both.

And now Sharad Pawar who has absolutely nothing to do with Cricket heads BCCI - Dalmiya was associated with BCCI since 1979 and did such a great job - but that counts for nothing does it?

I digress but watching this unfold from afar one can't but feel disgusted.

I think what happened at the Eden Gardens was a disgrace. You talk about commercialisation and such. What is the relevance of that when it comes to going out there to support your national team. You said people were dissappointed after standing in the lines paying all the money to see their team being thrashed by 10 wickets. You conveniently forgot to state that the pitch was a greentop as far as Indian Pitches go. As a result the toss played a crucial role. Had India won the toss perhaps it would have been us with the 10 wicket win. The reason this whole fiasco took place is because of the misplaced patriotism of the people there. It seems like their priorities and this includes the curator's lies with Ganguly on this occasion. What other reason could there be for having a greentop in Calcutta a traditional dustbowl in Indian cricket. After a thorough thrashing because they lost the toss I'm sure Chappel was disillusioned with everything. I don't see the South Africans or NZ preparing spinning tracks from day 1, but in our country we provide the opposing team a chance to play to their strengths. I am extremely disillusioned with the behavior of the crowd and the curator. Just because a player past his prime was dropped this doesn't mean you prepare a nice greentop to greet both teams. I am a supporter of INDIAN cricket and I think whatever happened there is uncalled for. Thats the bigger picture. Not the fact that Chappel decided to flick them off. Granted that was uncalled for - but still how can you boo your national team. They have been playing good cricket over the past month - they did NOT deserve that. I'm surprised you didn't write an article about the antics of this crowd - we're lucky they didn't decide to start throwing bottles. Or more importantly the actions of a curator who should be grilled for his actions

LIke everywhere I see Bengalis supporting what is written here against Chappell. I dont know when this will stop but if the Eden Gardens crowd is going to be this way need to seriously give it a thought to stop using it as a center or drastically stop taking in Bengali players! Now that would be disaster! I am not for the last option but regionalism is causing too much of issues with cricket here !

Shane Warne took what his mother called were pills. We also believe it.

Stephen fleming was all smoke in the carribean. Or was it only a smoke screen.

Jeff crowe states we should not curtail a lively player like Andre Nel for his psycho stares and stick out tongue acts. You do require pantomime shows to popularise cricket.

Ian chappell and trevor bowled under arm. One is not sure about Greg's role in this. May be learning from the boundary line.

Aussie sledging is state of art and inimitable at that. They do not bend rules but bend their acts around the rules.

Flintoff bares his chest. Only the poms are entitled to such macho exhibitions.

Vaseline Lever is forgotten.

Even Mark Waugh was caught in the whiff reporting on weather.

We believe that these are great players and can get away with any thing they do and are treated with respect and as heroes wherever they go and also when they reitre.

Saurav's has been a lesser villainy if at all. His crime giving teeth to the softy Indian team. Bengalis and the whole of India should give a better send off for a great captain of our times.

Senior players and the selectors should have had a word with Ganguly about his future role and not the coach. At stake is also India's pride. The aussies will be laughing in their sleeves at what Greg could achieve which Steve and other's couldnt.

The calcutta crowd took it very badly as the fickle minded public from other parts of the country were scathing in their attack against a beleagured captain.

The end does seem to have justified the means.

No soft sentiments for Saurav, but to belittle an Indian Captain in this way does not seem to be par.

Why dont we disect the facts and see...
Ganguly gets left out of the Indian OD team. Its a big deal! the bengali fans boo the national team. Kumble gets left out of the Indian OD team. The bangalore fans boo the national team. Balaji gets left out. We cannot plan in Chennai. in each and every part of India, there are really good cricketers. some may be better than ganguly, some may not be that good; some perform consistently and some do not. The team that is currently playing has been selected based on their performance in the near past including their consistency. Ganguly unfortunately has not been consistent. but hey! he was a helluva batsman. similarly kapil, gavaskar, etc etc were great players too. they do not deserve a place in team india right now. every player has their time. those that can maintain their high standards stay. the rest go, some choose to go, some are shown the door. Just Accept That Bengal and any other Indian state that resorts to this kind of negative attitude. END OF STORY!!!!!!!!!!!

The eden crowd is different huh!!??
They're just a bunch of unsporting cry babies who are upset because their poster boy has been rightly excluded from the team.
If the reaction from Greg was unsporting, it was because of the unsporting attitude of the crowd, it was directed towards the crowd, and the crowd deserved it.
It was just a reaction he made right at that moment - because he had had enough of the Calcuttan crowd.
The Bengali got to understand that the're not the only people in this world who have "emotions", the Indian team has emotions too.
And if the crowd react in the manner they did, they shouldnt expect the polite behaviour from the team.

Most of the folks here are missing the point.

Forget about what the crowd did. That is a totally separate issue. Take cricket away from Kolkata or whatever, but:

A NATIONAL COACH CANNOT MAKE AN OBSCENE GESTURE TO THE CROWD.

There are numerous examples of people in similar positions getting punished for similar offence in numerous sports areanas.

I am shocked that most of the Indians are not taking offense. If this happened in US, the coach would be fired or at least suspended.

BCCI should be ashamed at their timidness.

Cool post. I agree Eden Gardens is one of the best places to watch cricket and completely different from other indian grounds. While, I dont agree with an unnecessarily unruly crowd (read: hooligans) I dont think the crowd in Eden did anything particulary wrong to attract much criticism. If India won the match, I think it would have been exactly opposite irrespective of Ganguly being not in the team. Also, the crowd booing or indian support behavior is same across all regions and indians living across different parts of the world. A complete trounce is will never invite garlands. That said, booing Dravid was not necessary but nothing new in India.

And, really who cares about Chappell finger?? It is his..isn't it? He can flip it whenever he wants.

Rakesh, you probably dont have a clue of what you are talking about? Greg chappel flipped the crowd a day before the match and not in eden gardens.

Bengali basher..are you??

I pray that Ganguly plays in Chennai or Mumbai, the crowd heckles him and Ganguly shows his middle finger to them. We will see how Mr Pawar et all react to that?

I am so glad that this blog has not stooped to level of partisanism that I recently saw on a Times of India site where it came down to Bengali and Marathi bashing. Sometimes, I wonder -- what is wrong with India! Thank God for sites like Cricinfo, with classier readership and better moderation. Having said that, I am Bengali, and yes...I am very unhappy with the response at Eden Gardens. Especially, since it was for the wrong reason. However, recognize that most of such unrest (and I have seen this over the years) usually orginates from a small section of rabble rousers -- both uneducated and unruly. Back to Greg -- life is tough, and in the role that he has, restraint is essential. And there has to be accountability assciated with Public Persona...be it Movie Stars, Polticians or Celebrities of any kind. Unfortunately, that is the price of fame (and position). On to Sourav -- he messed up big time with the "leak" about Greg and his conversation. He deserves the slack. But, I belive (as Ranatunga said in his column), that he also deserves more respect....especially considering what he has done. Maybe he'll make a comeback (and I hope he does), but if not, let us at least orchestrate a fitting exit for a once great captain -- someone who got past regional biases (think Harbhajan, Yuvraj, Laxman, etc. etc.), had "balls", and played several match winning knocks for our country. It will set a good precedent.

Mr.Arun,
I empathise with the crowd when you say"Standing in the queue for 24 hrs waiting to buy a ticket, forgoing all your hard earned money for a ticket, watching a game in the hot sun, watch your side thrashed by 10 wickets, and then the coach to be showing you the finger”? But, I swear this would not have happened had Ganguly had played and led Team India to such Ignominy at Calcutta. Bottomline: No Ganguly, No cricket match. Is this the tendency we are defending?
krish.

What I find particularly sickening are references to terms like 'national team', 'Indians', 'Patriotism', etc. This is sports folks not a war. We are not discussing General Patton or WWII or anything like that. The Calcutta crowd did not commit any crime by booing Chappel, Dravid, whoever. If we are displeased at the way Sourav has been treated then we are perfectly justified in booing whoever we think is responsible for it.

It was expectable that the Kolkata crowd was going to boo the team; their home town hero was just kicked out of the ODI team. Even though their boo-ing was a bit over the limit, Greg Chappell, as national coach, has no excuse for what he did. For Pete's sake, the crowd even boo-ed Sachin and he's like a demi-god to cricket fans, and we didn't see him pull the middle finger did we?

What you seem to have forgotten, or have been misled by the media, is that the finger salute incident took place the day before the match, when Greg showed the birdie to a small group of SG supporters outside Eden Gardens after practice sessions.

Either way, it is and should be treated as an affront to all Indians, rather than used to score a proxy point against Bengalis, who anyway do not alone constitute Kolkata.

And... Oh! Siddhartha, Ganguly has already been heckled and booed by the Chennai and B'lore crowd before. Remember 2001 vs Aussies, when SG went up to accept the B-G Trophy? And recently in B'lore?

Mind you, unlike 'gentleman' RD, he did not give any bad press after the event.

Eden gardens should never be given a game again. There are 10's of better players than Ganguly waiting for chance. He should have been thrown out of team long long back.

hi! lets take all the points together,its only in india that we make pitches for the opposition,remember the nagpur test against australia recently,the curator makes a greentop for the aussies just because of board politics,next eden gardens prepares a green top for the south africans,when new zealand came to india we provided them with lovely flat pitches to get a drawn series after getting a rotten deal when we toured there!whats wrong with us!!a crowd booing the national team!its disgraceful,no matter what the reason,nothing can justify that,after the match mark boucher ws happily adding more fuel to fire by saying that he was surprised not to see ganguly in the squad,thats always been our problem complete lack of unity,its been our downfall for centuries and it goes on and on,shame on the calcutta crowd for booing their own team ,we dont see that in any other country,if the aussies are losing at home the crowd may cheer the performance of the other team but never booes its own team,grow up guys ,its high time we learnt where our loyalties should lie,not the state the country!

The fact of the matter is:

if this was done by someone other than chappel it would not have been a big issue like it is right now...

A guy who is working with the team, is getting the results doesn't deserve to be treated like this. I am not justifying challel's reaction to the crowd...I think he should have realistically anticipated that.....but i am not against chappel in this because we are talking about a person who has seen the game so much, and understands the game so well...just because Ganguly was and is behaving so childishly there is no way he should hold any regrets, as for the fans of cal, they would always be like that...they got what they were asking for.

One venue Indians were proud of was eden gardens, now the wicket is bad and the crowd is worse...!!!

After the debacle in the semi final of the '99 world cup, i feel ashamed as a Indian.

we should cheer the game, cheer the country...not some players or individuals...!!!

The worst crowd of India deserved the condemnation , but not by the way as chapell did.
Even Dravid was insulted and irritated ,could u find him with ugly gestures.
Culcutta crowd has to learn from chennai crowd,because similar situations have been dealt by them many times

Whatever happened between Chappell & crowd is a secondary matter. How dare Kolkotta crowd BOOO off Dravid. They had completly forgot that Ganguly attained huge captainship success on the back of some great performance by Dravid. Some of them were Dravid & VVS Laxman partnership @ Eden Garden, his double century against England, Pakistan & Australia that all came while playing away from home. His centuy against a g 300+ target agaisnt WI in India. They completly forgot that Dada would have met a similiar fate to his predescoor if Dravid (The Wall) would not have been by his side giving more than what he was asked for time & time again. I feel that we the Team India lovers should tell this unruly crowd of Kolkotta "UP URS". But then we play our game in a very amicable, peaceful & gentleman manner. It would be improper for us to do it.

What some people are forgetting here is that Dravid got a standing ovation when he walked into bat!! So did Sachin btw. But, India played very poor cricket, SG sure was on Eden crowd mind and finally India had the worst loss in recent memory. I agree with Arun that Eden is different and may be too hot to handle for some other Indians. And talk about strict double standards by indian fans when talking about booing by Eden crowd. Every captain has been booed in every Indian stadium or outside due to loss. Ask, Ganguly, gavaskar, Azhar, Kapil. Ganguly was even booed in chennai when India won the epic series versus Aus in 2001. Here due to the Ganguly incident things are being blown out of proportion.

I completely agree with arun. disrupting cricket matches by throwing stuff on the field is not right, but voicing your opinion is and hopefully will always be an unchallenged right. India were soundly beaten at Eden, and it was the crowd's right to be indignant. Yes, it was also exacerbated by the exclusion of their sporting hero.

I remember the kolkata crowd booing ganguly once in a test match when he was out for a duck. I think it was aainst South Africa in 96. unruly behaviour that culminates in objects being thrown on the field should be condemned. But to condemn a crowd for voicing their opinions and taking sides against their own national team as just a show of their indignation, is childish.

Eden Gardens has always been hard to please, and why is that so bad?

How about fielding a different india team INDIA (EDEN) for all matches in Eden .

Criteria:
Captain: Saurav
Team : 100% thoroughbred begalis .

I believe everything would be peaceful ...

Vasu I find your comments about Ganguly utterly wrong. The guy is one of the only three people that have over 10,000+ runs in ODIs at 40 with 22 centuries and 60 half centuries and good 5000+ runs in tests at 41. I don't see how thats bad. Sure, he has been in a slump as of late but all players have had slumps, would you want them kicked of the team as well?

Neither the crowd nor the coach has behaved in acceptable manner but its impossible to punish the entire crowd after all they are not in Chappell's position.

Chappell's pointing of the finger can be thought of us general street behaviour in Australia. Chappell is not well educated and sportsmen in Australia usually aren't so the crowd should have known that better.