Sowmya Bhattacharya's hope that others complicit in the "nightmare"will also own up will never take place.Only to preempt this , they had started pointing accusing fingers at Chappel and succeeded in making him resign.Now, what? The players need not perform to be in the side because that is the Indian psyche which Greg Chappell could not fathom but about which so many former players gloat about!

I agree with the fact that coaching the Indian team (with all its "PAPER TIGERS") is one of the toughest asks. At the same time it was a known fact that running between the wickets and fielding were clearly the 2 areas where we as a team needed improvement. In the last 2 years that Chappel was around, unfortunately we couldn’t see much progress. If an idle-average Coach potato like me can understand this, why is it so difficult for a world renowned & experienced coach to fathom this and try to make the team embrace it as a culture? The same question goes to all the paper tigers too. Look at the way the Aussies/sri lankan (not to forget the S Africans) pounce on the cricket ball and save the extra run.

At the cost of sounding ridiculous we need a Javed Miandad kind of coach - gutsy, hungry for victory and cunning.

We need a scapegoat for our failures and Chappell has been one. I am pretty sure the remarks by Tendulkar has instigated his resign. I hope and believe that Chapell holds Tendulkar in high esteem and may be his comment has bought about his resignation. Every coach is bound to get disappointed with the outcome of this when it played in "challenging" conditions. Ever since Chapell took over every game and every experiement was scrutinized by media and our so called wise ex-cricketers.

This blog is point blank right on the the Indian attitude. We have had the big icons playing for a long time. Every series we hear we have a top-of-the-draw batting line-up but the result not once we have consistently performed overseas.

The question is, do we want world-beaters like the Aussies,SA or WIndies once was? Or do we want couple of series wins in India, say our players are the best again and repeat the cycle. Open your eyes India, we might loose initially but give some space to the players and the coach and fear not. We need a side to challenge the best and to fight the heart-out. We need fresh talent with the guidance of the people who perform

Chappel has probably done the right thing - leave! It's the Australian way of doing it if things dont work out. Meanwhile, I would hope that players like Tendulkar should probably maintain the status quo by keeping his mouth shut. He is feeling pressure at this time - he isn't scoring runs for some time now. If it's true he is trying to take up the cause for some players, then he'd better be very careful because the minute he becomes captain, it wont be long before these same players (and I dare say Dravid wont be a vendettor in this effort) are going to betray him. Why? Because this Indian team has no where to go but remain stagnant.

Indian cricket is never going to improve as long as individuals deem themselves greater than the game. This has been the root of all problems for India. Unless something radically changes and players are dropped and retained based on their performances, I don't see the face of Indian cricket changing for a long time. If someone of the stature of Steve Waugh and Matthew Hayden can be dropped, I don't see any reason why any of our top players can't be dropped. This has been the eternal malice that has plagued the Indian team and I am afraid that it is going to remain the same until all of it(the malice) is weeded out right from the grassroots level.

Well wwe are part of a cricket crazy nation, where emotions take over reasoning and the BCCI quitely keeps promoting their business interests. Greg Chappell ,according to me found it very hard to sell his Aussie approach to the star studded Indian team. He along with Dravid tried whole heartedly to build Indian crickets future, but met strong resistance from many power figures inside the playing eleven.Chappell probably was aware of the fact that one is bound to encounter some resistance when a new idealogy is inroduced instead of the older culture. But little did he realise the extent of the resentment from the media, who totally lacked the objective tact throughout this issue. They really handled one sided angle on this story and did their best to make Chappell look like the VILLAIN.

Maybe it is then good for India to stick our basics and get a mild mannered coach who knows that he is there to just pamper and baby sit these rich spoiled cricketers. Maybe we dont want to learn the Aussie culture of winning at every cost or the may the best man get the job. Those are all notions that shall be put to rest and we shall totally run the BCCI on pure public emotion. The same public who is so fueled by the unknowledegable media anchors of some tv channels.

Maybe its all for good, Chappell was really wasting time here. As anyone who knows little about the game knows that one cannot blame any strategy or captaincy for the batting failure of our team against Bangladesh or Lanka. But still our system promotes to find the cause and everyone from fans to media wanted Chappell's head and guess what thats what they have now?

Your argument that there are no holy cows in Australian cricket is not on solid foundation. Mark Taylor went through one of the longest slumps as the captain of the Australian team (19 tests without a 50) and yet the selectors persisted with him. (maybe because of his captaincy)Similar case with Gilchrist. Even Hayden was dropped only from the one-day squad. We did the same thing too with our players- Ganguly, kaif, Zaheer etc.

Hero worship - agreed but please tell me of which of the 15 members who went to West Indies would you have dropped? Tendulkar? Kumble? Dravid? Ganguly?

Please don't write some worthless drivel and expect us to read it only because it is on cricinfo.

DO u really think our players will own any responsibility??? No way,coz they still theya re better.In india nobody cares for performance.First we blamed,youngsters (SA) for loosing , next we balmed pitches in WI and India for the loss (Champions trophy),NExt we blame the opposite team played well taht particular day, Next we blame media creating more tension and after all that now coach is made the sacpe goat for failures and this viscious circle will continue. Mr Rajesh from cric info has come up with startling stats abt our batsman. It is just so bad that everytime the pitch is not a belter their average drops by 50% and people like sachin who is "god" of indian cricket averages 14 from 11 matches in past 2 years against SA and Aussies. Now do we really think we can win anything ???????

Greg Chappell could see that April the 6th and the 7th are not going to be pleasurable experiences for him. So, in order to retain his self-respect, he himself chose to stay away. But now I fear that things would be (very easily) pushed under the carpet, since one side of the argument (GC) no more remains. Now they all will be there...Sachin, Saurav, Dravid, Sehwag...all. Mark my words...ALL. Indian cricket will soon be the same again, exactly like what it has been all these years.

Thank God, Greg Chappell has questioned Sachin Tendulkar's integrity. Henceforth Sachin Tendulkar cannot crib about nobody has doubted his integrity all his seventeen years playing cricket. I think that like all great men has an other side Sachin also has one. Sad day for Indian cricket contributed by two greatttttt cricketers.

I agree completely. The most unfortunate thing about the players of subcontinent is that they never want to leave. They are usually kicked out after many bad performances or they retire with disgrace. Players like Kumble, Tendulkar, Ganguly should have retired atleast two years ago when they were on a high note. I think the slectors should select on performances rather than PAST performances. If Tendulkar is not performing, sit him out so he finds that hunger in him to do well enough to play. Players are taking their spots for granted. This is a tragedy of subcontinent players. Greg or any other foreign coach wont understand Desi mentality.

" From where he came, there was one policy: if you didn’t play well, you were out of the side." that is not as cut and dried as many
indians think it is. The aussies often joke that it is harder to get out of the aussie team than into it. No wonder Mike Hussey had to score some 13000 odd first class runs before he got a place in the team. dont try to make the aussies as some paragons of efficiency, you are then making the same mistake that you accuse other indians of. Some people blindly worship Indian cricketers and some people blindly worship whoever is on top at present!!
I think it is a good thing chappel is gone. Unless the dressing room is tension-free, cricketers especially batsmen can never perform properly. Chappells big failure was this, he pitted players against each other and that is why has to go. He was never a good coach, his record with South Australia is only so-so. The BCCI made a big mistake in hiring him in the first place.
The BCCI should get all the players together and thrash out any doubts, suspicions about each other and the management.

Its unfortunate, but true... More than the players, the administrators, the coach or the media, it is the common man and the sentimental psyche (its the beauty and the bane of India) that will contributing to status quo prevailing.. This will mean that we wont react to change as much or as quickly as we should (like we did OR didnt in hockey) and we will continue to think that the whole country needs just one person to lead its cricket... But then, isnt that the way we deal with our political system as well?

Venkat

A curious decision terminates a curious coaching tenure. The man's motivations remained a mystery. Surely the culture difference was staring him in the face. Is it reasonable to think that the astute Chappell would not have adjusted for the fact that this was India, not Australia? The late Bob Woolmer adjusted to the even more hero-worshipping Pakistani culture, Tom Moody went from trying to beat Sri Lanka to coaching them rather quickly, and John Wright formed a rewarding partnership with essentially the same Indian squad.

Why did Steve Waugh warn against hiring Greg Chappell? Did anyone ever ask the far more respected Ian Chappell's opinion? I think that Greg sought to control the Indian team, irking the man who campaigned for him (Ganguly), diminishing the Wall's authority, and even questioning Sachin 'holy cow' Tendulkar. Chappell played off of the Indian seniors' fears, created divisions, all in his own interest. And now, having caused Indian cricket serious harm, he will conveniently resign and return home, seeing that there is nothing more for him to gain. His sneaky media leaks, brazen player baiting, less than ambassadorial public behavior and eagerness to tinker with working formulae all add up to the picture of a man working mostly for himself.

And why did the players let a divisive coach make them lose faith in their abilities? Partially we must blame Dravid, who too meekly accepted Chappell's control and became his mouthpiece on the field, shattering players' faith in their skipper. Contrast this with the Pakistan situation, where Inzamam was in control, and unfortunately Bob Woolmer's good will and good ideas didn't always make it onto the pitch, let alone any malice, if he'd have ever had any.
There is talk of hiring Gavaskar. Sunny's recent statements about the Aussies, while mostly accurate, were not well thought out, tasteless, and easy to target by Border, Ponting et al. He will not make a good ambassador. India do best with an unassuming coach, like Sandeep Patil or John Wright.
Maybe they should go without a coach for a while, just have a fitness/fielding trainer or something. The likes of Rahul, Sachin, Sourav, Anil, and Virender need no coaching. Have the bowlers consult with Akram, Lillee, Holding etc. over short term assignments, and develop a brain trust within the players that new players derive from. Michael Clarke enthuses about playing with Ponting, not being coached by John Buchanan. Shoaib Akhtar would be half the bowler without the two W's, and so on...

Taking a cue from all the countries in the world and their coaching system, one would find that each of the country
and its system have its advantages and disadvantages. No country has ever gone so low on a downward spiral. The cricketing countries
have either maintained their existing position in the game or improved, and rarely have they strayed into negative boundaries. For
example, in the current world cup there havent been huge upsets except for India and Pak. All other countries played to their potential
and reached the super 8 stage.

What's worrying is India not only lost but gave up without a fight. The team's performance I bet is something new.
India regardless of winning a world cup trophy or any other trophy for that matter has always won the crunch matches.
Thats how we have been consistently reaching semifinals or finals in a tri series or mini world cup or some other cricketing competition
for that matter and public interest has been alive with the team.

After Greg Chappel took over, the team is even struggling to hit the basic level. His experiments which were supposed to continue only
till 2006 and stabilise the team but it has continued till the matches of World Cup. Sachin who was opening all the time was made
to come down the order. If people claim that team no longer depends on Sachin why shield him and make the middle order solid. Its worthwhile
to note that Sachin was pushed down the order even before 2003 World Cup for a brief while but was brought right on top the order just on
the 1st match of WC and from there on we witnessed the results.

Also, when a team loses its in bad taste that coach leaks letters to press or recalls of SMS he had sent to pressmes or
question player's attitude. The job of a coach is to motivate the individual and instill the fighting spirit in the team. Greg Chappell
completely and woefully lacks these qualities and is unfit to continue as coach. Sure, Indian cricket needs medication as well and we
hope BCCI atleast now takes necessary steps. Else, in a country of 1 billion with die hard cricket enthusiasts, it wont be difficult
to find quality men for ICL (Zee initiative) as ICL wont have to battle it out on zonal or stupid systems and might end giving BCCI
a run for its money.

I am in perfectly agreement with your views.
Chappel should have been gven an extended run and non-performing players like irfan,ganguly,sachin,sehwag and dhoni should have been shown the door.
The place in an indian team ought to be fough for,but these players believe as if its their dynasty's property.Selctors should be ruthless and also media should stop reporting the high profile players.
Unless one more shameless debacle is on cards in 2011.Also i think dav whatmore is the oe who should be given the job.He is a tremedrous guys,who optimizes the resources given(and india do have scant resources,due to BCCI lust and illeteracu about cricket).

I've read some of the above comments that some of the players should have been dropped (Sehwag, Sachin, etc) for non-performance and only players who perform should be selected into the team. While I agree partially to this viewpoint there is a very big dilemma for BCCI and Indian Cricket to consider. Let's say we go ahead and drop some of these players, who have been the back-bone of Indian Cricket for years, who are we going to replace them with? Where is the talent pool from which to draw? Who has excelled himself in domestic cricket worth talking about? Where is the next Tendulkar, Ganguly, Kumble, Dravid??? Unless cricket in india is reformed from the ground up, there is no way Indian cricket will reach new heights. The system is flawed and broken and unless it is fixed, we will continue to see the same mediocre teams India puts on the field time and time again as we've seen. We need to have a vision that will last for decades instead of looking for short term gains!

I’ve been reading a lot about this issue here and I’m very disappointed about how most of the Indian people have reacted to this. On one hand there is our legendary player like Sachin Tendulkar, who has been playing for our country for 17 years. He has made us proud many times and Sachin’s recent form has not been that bad either. He has scored decent runs, but he has set the bar of expectation from him so high that we always excpect him to score 60+ runs in every single game. It’s not possible. He is no God.

On the other hand there is this arrogant Australian coach. There are so many Australian cricketers that don’t think he is a good coach. He is full of ego. He is so arrogant that he doesn’t have the word “Sorry” in his dictionary. Not only he never says sorry, but he tries to blame other people for what went wrong. Where were all these people that questions Sachin’s attitude when Mr. Greg Chappel show his middle finger to Indian people (THIS SHOWS HOW MUCH HE RESPECTS INDIA AND INDIAN PEOPLE). Let me tell you if you show your middle finger to anyone in Australia, England, and North America, you have good chances of putting your life at risk. I dare Mr. Chappel to do that in Australia and come out clean like he did in India.

Ask your self a question if Chappel was that good why didn’t Australia picked him as their next coach? Also, do you think the person like Sachin Tendulkar who has dedicated all his life to cricket deserves all this? If he wants he could quit cricket right now and make still make a lot of money. But he chooses to play because he loves India and he loves cricket. Give me example of a cricketer who plays with his nation’s flag on his helmet.

Also, I think Sachin should not quit cricket right now because if he does he will have to regret this for rest of his life. He should remain in team and so something bigger than winning the world cup and this could be winning a test series in Australia. I would rate it higher than winning the world cup. Then and only then he should say good bye and we should give him the farewell he deserves!!!!!

great chapopel,at least he has taken the decision to quit,and has taken responsibility.will sachin retire or get dropped from the team?or will he just keep on saying sorry we didnt perform.if i as a doctor tell the patients relatives sorry i didnt perform ,will i be eligible to hold on to my job?

If some parts of the process were wrong why did we wait till the World Cup? Why is Sachin accusing Greg now? Why is Greg hinting at bad elements in the team now? Each one of them like all of us was banking on hope. Greg hoped that the team will surely reach super eight in spite of the issues. Sachin hoped he will some how come out unscathed. These individuals hoped for themselves. Not for the team because they knew it was hopeless. Just sack Sachin and all the players he is supposedly representing. Greg sacked himself. We all hoped for super eight berth. At least as fans we all had a common hope. My four year old who never saw a cricket bat in his life (he is in USA) saw me getting excited during the world cup preparation and he wanted India to win every time I was watching a match. Even yesterday he asked me why is India loosing everytime.I sacked myself from cricket...yet I keep coming to read about cricket......I think I like to read the blogs and the fans reactions....yes and there is this murder mystery that may never be solved...it is already out of the headlines!!! Poor me.

with greg chappel himself chosing a safe way out of this mess called indian system he has done the right thing, sachin oubrust was a masterstroke, chappel knew he can survive with ganguly on opposite side of fence but not sachin tendulkar, one thing is sure bcci guys must be having a sigh of relief. but the only worry is the bigger question that what about indian crickets future will remain unanswered. chappel wanted to take us one step ahead, ahead in terms of quality of play. now it will be back to square one. some individual performances that too twice in ten matches will win matches for india but on whole the performance will not improve. i think its a bad day for indian cricket

The most persistent myth in Indian cricket is that senior underforming cricketers rarely get dropped, even if facts prove otherwise. In recent times, we have seen Ganguli, Shewag, Laxman (in test matches), Harbhajan Sing, Zaheer Khan losing their places, but that hardly affects the general perception. I would say that in the current team, only Tendulkar and Dravid can survive one whole bad series, all the rest are vulnerable. As others have pointed out here, the Australian system is not that tough and uncompromising either. Once a Australian player has established himself, the selectors normally give considerable slack to ride over the lean times. Ponting had a horrible series in India, still he was selected for the next series. When Martin dropeed himself(retired), I read one Australian selector remarking that they were prepared to stick with him for the entire series. The fact that the Australians have the highest average age suggests that the Australian selectors show no great inclination to replace established older players with younger players.

Of all the people, I expected Tendulkar to be better aware of his "sell-by" date. Plodding along with the sole intention of notching up a few more milestones, now whence before have we seen this quintessential Indian tragedy play out. What is more, those records won't stay long, for surely Ponting is going to soon enough break any and every record Tendulkar and his aging body could muster. I feel sorry for Greg, and for the average Indian fan.

Sensationalism is all about Indian fans. We were baying for blood when the team turned in a horrifying performance in the ODI series in West Indies. Later they won the test series and were given a hero's welcome on their return. At the end of South African ODI series there was lot if hungama and once the first test was won there were articles after articles as to how they have found a champion bowler in Sreesanth. Then everything came back to the earth after two more test defeats in SA and again hype was created after ODI series wins against WI and SL. Now there is some chitter chatter after world cup debacle and following this is a series in Bangladesh which if India wins (normally I would have said India will win this series but after their world cup performance I am forced to include "if"), again there will be articles on the future of INdian cricket, someone who scores 50 off 30 balls will be hailed as next Tendulkar and if the same guy also captures 5 wickets he will be termed next Kapildev. Following Bangladesh series is a series against England where again everyone's technical weaknesses will be exposed and again there will be chopping and changing. I mean the board and others are fickle alright but we fans are no better. As long as we keep glorifying the team for 50% results (win as much as u lose) we will only remain mediocre and may be even go to sub-standard. Thats the difference between teams like India and professional ones like Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. I am sure I will face criticism for my comment since we Indians dont like to face unpleasent truths about ourselves, we want people to say great things about us even after turning in shoddy performances. Not at all surprising that a man from Australia after ssing the professional set up there finds it difficult to digest the system here. Quitting was the only choice. Atleast he had the spine and self respect to do so, let us see what the Indian "think tank" will do now.

If you are an eternal optimist and if you look hard and look in the right place you will be able to spot a silver lining in the whole WC debacle. Now we know for sure the matches arent fixed. If they were India simply could not be knocked out. There was a lot of advertising money riding on the teams shoulder. It would not have taken much to `fix' the Lankans!

I think Greg did the right thing. On the other hand The "Great" Sachin T want's somebody to take the fall for his miserable failures. I fully agree with Ian Chappell that the "Great" S T is ekeing out a living by being in the team. Why doesn't he retire gracefully from cricket or is he waiting to be fired like a shameless guy. Look at the Australians when great players like Steve & Mark Waugh, Hayden, etc.have stepped down giving way to younger & more better players, why can't India do so? Hey Sachin it's time to go. Bye Bye. And the other news I do not want to hear is that Gavaskar being tipped to Coach the Indian team. He himself did not know the meaning of one day cricket & is a very selfish player aka Sachin Tendulkar. Both palyed for their own selfish gains (records). Please BCCI do not even dream of appointing Gavaskar as India's Coach.

Your artcle can be summed up in one line..."Perform or be dropped"...big deal...what a brainer!! But that does not justify Chappell's handling of the team. Just as a great researcher does not imply a great teacher, so was it in the case of Chappell. It is preposterous that we would try to defend this guy. Ever since he took over, all we heard was "World Cup 2007". Every bit of experiment he performed was in the name of it. And yet, when the time came, we did not even make it to the Super 8. Forget about the world cup, going into it we were #6 in the world !! Yet, most of India cheered him on when we beat SL, South Africa, on home soil (and became #2). Instead of using that good will to construct a stable team, he went about meaningless experiments...thereby killing any kind of stability. If we have to follow Australia, why dont you explain why Australians do not shuffle the batting order so often? Show me an instance when an Australian bowler of Pathan's potential was made to come in at #3 match after match, confusing the poor youngster as to why he was in the team in the first place? Why do we have Munaf Patel, one of the fastest bowlers in first class cricket bowling so slow in the world cup (the fear of going astray and getting dropped perhaps??). Not making to the semi-finals may be attributable to the Indian selection process...but not making the super-eight? Give me a break !!

And if Chappell so much wanted to change the process, he should take over the under-19, or better still, under-15 Indian teams.

Greg Chappel is one of the greatest batsman of all times. But we are afraid that he is not a successful captain. He could not integrate team India into a fighting unit and must take the responsuibility for its dismal performance in the world cup. All India required was appropriate strategy and proper mindset. But both were sadly missing. He had all the freedom so it is unwise to find excuse. He made the initial mistake in knocking Sourav out of the team. That upset the rthym of a successful unit. Dravid is a brilliant cricketer but is not an aggressive tactician. Greg possibly floated with the indian cricket politics. India may struggle to regain its status as some key players like Sachin, Sourav may not last long and there are none to replace them. Asad situation of a cricket crazy nation.

The difference between Indian and Australian culture can be summed up in passion and heroism versus process. Let me explain.

So Aussies are not passionate or heroic? I did not mean that. Of course they are. But they do not rely on those to succeed. Being passionate is just for fun for them - to drive them, to motivate them, to gear them up. But it does not show up in the formula for preparing for a World Cup. It has to be there, but having only passion is the recipe for disaster. So what do you need on top of that? Process. Do not misunderstand this word - it is just a word from the dictionary. Let us try to think what it stands for: training your mind to think and act a certain way. Why is Agarkar not able to keep the line and length at the exact sweet spot that will make hitting impossible 999 out of 1000 times? Because he has not trained his mind to dispassionately do that. Keep on doing that. Just keep on doing that. Like McGrath. For Agarkar, his ability to deliver an extended spell with more than 80% deliveries on spot depends on his level of passion at that point of time. It depends on his motivation level. It depends on killer instinct that has to be poked by some fork time and again. For McGrath, it is habit. For Agarkar, he has to "lift" himself mentally, get angry at the opposition, get worried for his place in the side, and so on. For McGrath, it is process. For Agarkar, it is passion. That is the difference between passion and process.

The difference between heroism and process is similar. Of course Australians are heroic. But they are not dependent on a few heroes. The tag "hero" is not stitched to any one person or group of persons. Any of them can play hero - oops, let me rephrase, all of them play hero. The scoreboard reads 35/3? Nice. Let us shift to plan C. So they have some pre-set plans, and all of them says "keep the scoreboard ticking", apart from something else which makes plan A differ from Plan B. What is process? To follow that plan to the word. They do it. We don't. Chappell wanted to do that.

Greg Chappel should have been fired.I am glad he made the job of the BCCI easy.
During Chappel's tenure,when players of the calibre of Sehwag,Pathan,Kaif,Harbhajan suddenly
start performing poorly,Iam sorry it is mostly the coaches fault.His main job was to be the team's psychologist and make them mentally tough,
but his tactics & methods were proved to be
counterproductive.A good coach never blames the team for its failure.A Joe Torre or a Bill Parcells would never do it.Apart from the inclusion of Ganguly,he was given a fairly decent
team & there underacheivement is mostly due to Chappel's incompetence.
Iam not trying to be a monday night quaterback,as
I had publicly stated prior to the do or die game
aganst Sri Lanka that he should play Kumble
who is mentally tough instead of the lackadasical
Harbhajan and should have replaced Uthappa with
Dinesh Karthik and found a place for the energetic
Sreesanth/Pathan instead of Agarkar.He shockingly
played the same team which lost io Bangladesh.
Iam sorry Greg,you do not even possess basic cricketing instincts/gut feeling.
Great players do not make good coaches and Greg
Chappel is no exception.

Raj Desai M.D. New Jersey,USA.

I been reading a lot of articles as well as comments from the other readers to drop all the big names and start afresh. The feeling is that Chappel must have been given an extended run.
If Chappel had his way our team would comprise of Robin Uttapa, Dinesh Karthik, Raina, Sreesanth, Venugopal Rao, Irfan Pathan...! The result would be disastrous. India then can call Bermuda and Scotland for 7 match bilateral series and win it 4-3 and feel happy.Even if they are persisted for long they will just remain Chappel bunnies with no great results! People In India have very short memories. Just 3-4 yrs ago India came to the WC finals in South Africa, We drew a test series at Aus( How many teams have done that) . If anything instead of building from there we have gone backwards thanks to Chappel. The core group is the same as then and I see no reason why we cant win.
Also these guys have been selected because they had the best averages in Domestic cricket. If you make Sachin play Ranji Trophy he is gonna belt centuries one after another ( He played very recently in the Ranji trophy final Sachin hit a century and Saurav hit 90 odd).
As long as we dont have a good domestic setup in place Indian cricket will depend on exceptional talents to see them through. U can bring in Tiwari, Rayadu, Chawla et al. and they will all play great cricket on Indian soil.But once overseas or against tough oppositions they will come up as croppers. Uttapa was the best Indian batsmen on the domestic circuit and he failed in the Windies! The problem lies with our domestic system and not with the players. BCCI has the money to setup the most competitive league on good tracks with good facilities. But as long as politicians rule the roost nothing is gonna happen. I hope this world cup debacle shakes up the system. Only then I see a good Indian team challenging the rest of the world come through!

Amid all the chaos Dravid might be sitting happily in Kerala reading new papers and watching television reports. I am surprised that he didn’t make any statement opposing/favoring any party (Chappell/ Sr player co). He has every bit of responsibility that Chappell has or even more. He did not act as a leader. He proved that he could be convinced easily. That’s the not the case with Ganguly or any other previous captains. Sure he has to go. He is to be blamed for backing up Sehwag, giving him too many chances. He gave more opportunities to Uthappa than Karthik.

As soon as Chappell’s comments about senior players came out people started commenting on Sachin and co. Chappell might have fallen into the pit that he dug for senior players. Chappell is gone, and now is the time for Dravid to step down from Captaincy.

If you want a good example of how to create a world beating side look to the Australian side in the nineties and beyond.

There's been other great sides, such as the Windies during that period, but they were built on a basis of extreme skill rather than superior teamwork.

In the eighties the Aussies had a fair amount of talent, but weren't performing as a team. Bob Simpson 'cut the fat' so to speak, told it how it was, and the rest is history.

That mentality has been maintained and improved upon, and now they have a *great* side. Yet, I wouldn't call any one player in that side a superstar of the calibre of Tendulkar or Lara, but they don't need to be, because they actually get results as a team.

I think Chappell was merely attempting to use the same methods in India, but realistically, he needed a good 5 years of mediocre results to get it right.

In a country that expects results, that was never going to happen.

Well, the Indian team had always been hyped up and their wins made into something bigger. Whenever they won a Test series, it was deemed historic and whenever some of the players got centuries, the big averages came up. The basic though unnerving fact about the Indian batsman are that they are flat track bullies as the stats how. Whenever a hint of swing or pace comes into play, the batsman are found wanting. I never had a problem with Greg Chappell because he showed the way for Indian cricket but the players were disinterested to follow that path and therefore they humiliated the whole nation and its supporters.

I wonder why is it so hard to accept a simple fact: the Indian team did not play well enough. We might scour the depths of reason forever to reconcile with the debacle that was India's stint at the world cup. At the end of the day, however, the truth does not change. I do not have the insight to understand Chappel's role in this, but, I think by resigning, he is owning up to his responsibility. I am also of the opinion that there are several factors that influence success in sport: the the desire to win, passion for the sport, fortitude, mental strength and sheer hard work. Maybe it is time to consider inculcating these values in all our sportsmen, not just the cricketers. I feel that the Indian team needs it more than others, and the next coach will have his hands full. However, as a spectator I have also been reassuring myself; this is just a game for heaven's sake.

Still we guys don’t realize, every one is knowledgeable in their own views saying Sourav, Sachin and others are great or worse. Stop for a minute and think why we lost so many matches, it’s nothing wrong with Chappell we don’t have hunger to win matches. We have to blame some one and let us blame Chappell, we all know he is ruthless that’s why we hired him.

Now what BCCI has to do is to select young players and give them time to settle. Appoint Bowling coach, fielding coach and couple of assistant batting coaches to help chief coach. Give the players some time to establish and turn around the things.

Some one mentioned that If Sachin, Sourav or party play domestic they will score centuries, well let them score centuries and hang in there. These guys don’t have fire in them to win matches.
There is so much talent at domestic level, give them opportunity and time to prove.

Before we start to romanticize the exit of GREG CHAPPELL let us not forget that this very gentleman ordered his younger brother to bowl the only underarm delivery in post first world war history to a new zealand tailender who averaged a mammoth 7.62 with his side needing a six of the last bowl of the match. Clearly the gentleman had no Miandadian Talent whatsoever.
Furthermore Greg showed no remorse since it was okay within the letter of the game if not the spirit. The point being that maybe he tried to instill the same values within our ranks of winning no matter what it takes, and in the process destroyed the whole team and what it stood for.

Is Parth completely serious in his Chappell Bashing? You totally ignore the real issue, which is the complete lack of leadership when India is presented with tough or different circumstances!

Ask Viv Richards, Ian Chappell, Barry Richards and Shane Warne on whether a coach is actually needed. To a man, they will state it comes down to the players showing some leadership and some internal fortitute. So forget Chappell here and concentrate on the real issue, which is the complete lack effective of leadership and team pride, in representing your country and your team mates. The team spirit of say an Ireland contrasts markedly with my observations of the Indian Team in the preliminary matches and this is where the senior players have to set the tone, in practice and on the field. This means the experienced batsman have to ensure that India bats the full 50 overs to at least give their bowlers a chance and a guy like Harbarjian must lead the bowling (why would you leave Anil out of your team and where the hell is Sreesanth and Partan?). Todays game between England and Sri Lanka shows that a moderately competitive total still leaves you a chance. Simple honest accountable cricket played with passion, with the team lead and inspired by its senior players and the coach providing some tactics and the preparation. It ain't rocket science but I suspect it will be easier to make Chappell the scapegoat and ignore that the Indian Leadership group does not stand up enough in tough pressured packed situations and cannot inspire their team mates.

This is an excellent article. The author rightly points out that the "senior players" who were equally responsible for India's WC demise should take a cue from Chappell. It is not at all hard to see why a person from an alien culture, or indeed an Indian, would find it difficult to coach India. We have too many players who play as if they have nothing left to prove. And even after their interest/ability wanes, I am sure they find it very hard to quit because of commercial commitments. After all nobody likes to kill the goose that lays golden eggs. Like Sunny Gavaskar said, it is better to quit when people ask why rather than why not! Is it just a coincidence that SG retired in the pre-sattelite tv/ internet era? I am inclined to think not.

Koushik, your comments re: passion vs process are masterful; you have hit the nail right on the head.

What you describe is exactly the reason why Shaun Tait is not world class...yet; why Brett Lee took a while to become world class; and why Michael Bevan and Mike Hussey have been so successful as 'finishers'. Tait and Lee have plenty of passion, but they don't become great bowlers until they learn the importance of sticking to the plan. Hussey has passion in abundance (just ask anyone who's batted with him in the final overs of an ODI) but his results to date, and his potential for greatness, rely on his ability to tie his passion to the process of putting one foot in front of the other according to a reasonable plan. Ponting didn't become a good captain until he learned that there needs to be a number of plans and they need to be switched when necessary.

The good, passionate young Indians could become great, just as Shaun Tait one day might. In both cases, they just need to learn to tie their passion to the plan. They need to learn to ride their passion, not let their passion ride them. Your description of bowling a decent line becoming a habit is a perfect example.

There is an old australian saying that says "a champion team will always beat a team of champions". There is no greater example of this than the Indian cricket team. Tendulkar has had a fantastic career but father time catches everyone eventually and it would appear that as he fights for his own survival, he has done what Ganguly and others have done when they have not performed - blamed the coach. Chappell is a smart man, one of the most gifted thinkers and coach in cricket - period, to suggest otherwise is ridiculous. That he even had the courage to take on the job speaks volumes of the man. In my opinion he found kinks in some of the Indian players and had he been given the backing I think he would have gone for the youth and attempted to mould a team from scratch instead of inheriting one with many problems. Too many Indian cricketers are fair weather sailors, it's great when things are going their way, but when it doesn't... Cricket is a mental game, it requires enourmous amounts of mental toughness to succeed and survive at the top level. Using Australia as an example most have spent some time in and out of the side. Matthew Hayden was discarded in his mid 20's as a player who had too many technical deficiencies, Justin Langer too. Both took the criticism on board, then worked hard to repair their games and minds, on the off chance that they might one day get another chance. When the did they were ready and they did not let it slip. Significantly there was no running to the newspapers saying "I've been shafted", the only bloke that did (M Slater) never played again. Rather than run to the newspapers, they trained and worked hard. Again significantly, they are both team men, able to help other teammates out, rather than just focus on themselves.

Sadly the Indian side is back to square one, and the major problem being you have no coach and there has been damage done to your greatest player (Dravid) through this whole circus. Chappell is a good coach, two years was never going to be enough. You need to build a champion team, guys that will work for the coach and each other, not a team of champions that are purely focussed on themselves.

I would like to comment on two things. These two are very important points that I found negative in Greg Chappell's methods.
1. It is common tendency for everybody who fails to blame the upstream process. To me, it is like saying, " If you give me every player in the Australian team, I will win the world cup for you." The greatness in a coach lies int he fact that he should be able to take an average side and turn it into a great one. For example: John Wright with India, Dave Whatmore with the current Bangladesh team and the 1996 Srilankan team, Tom Moody with the Sri Lankan team. Chappell could not do that because, he always played the blame game whenever something went wrong. I mean imagine : He mentioned that he wanted Raina in the World Cup team after such a dismal performance.
2. Whenever, Chappell gave a statement to the public, he sounded as if he was more focused into the philosophical side of the game rather than the strategical side of the game. (Remember " Indian batsmen must be fearless" statement after the Bangladesh debacle). I do not remember him working on the technical short comings of any batsmen. It would have helped so much if he taught some of his batting techniques to the Indians so that they could handle swinging and seaming balls properly.

On the contrary, there are two great things that we learnt from Chappell.
1. Our team's bowling has improved leaps and bounds over the last two years. Credit goes to him for encouraging young fast intimidating bowlers into the international arena.
2. If Irfan Pathan was groomed properly, we would have had an excellant all rounder. All credit goes to Chappell for developing a fine all rounder in Irfan Pathan.

Chappell has to shoulder some of the blame and so do the Indian seniors who are unfit, unprofessional and dont really care! The BCCI also has to take responsibility. It's main job is to promote cricket-not make money and promote political interests. GC has done the right thing but our arrogant, idiotic cricketers & administrators will render Indian cricket obsolete. WAKE UP INDIA-we are a third tier cricketing nation!

"I only hope that others complicit in the nightmare that was World Cup 2007 will also own up"
As i agree with you Soumya, i feel a deep sense of melancholy that that this hope will be unrequitted. In recent times India has grown up as a nation and consequently we now "cash" into any thing we can including cricket. However while corporate India elsewhere has grown wise to the fact that performance is the key to HR selection Indian cricket is yet to see the light.
The players themselves must realise that if they want the big bucks associated with the business that is Indian cricket today, they need to perform consistently. And just like any other business non-performance should equal non-selection automatically. There is hope that the BCCI will finally realise this and implement it.
However what you (and I ) are hoping for is that the players use their consciences to come to that conclusion on their own. There, i am sorry to say we will fall terribly short and considering the recent media statements by some players that hope is getting thinner by the minute

Seems we have quite a few people asking for an extended run for Chappell. Maybe they arent content with a 1st round exit; they wanted a loss to Bermuda as well.

One can keep arguing whether Chappell is to blame or the players are to blame. Possibly, its a combination of both. However what one cant argue with is results. Chappell made a clear statement during the Ganguly episode - that non-performers need to be chucked out. Having been a non-performing coach by and large (except for a number of almost meaningless home triumphs), he at least did put his words into action and quit. Kudos to him for that.

As for Indian sports, its high time we gave cricket a break and looked at Kabaddi instead.

Idol worshipping at its best!

The following snippet from the cricinfo website written by Anand Vasu helps clarify why the Indian teams, despite great talents, can never be dominating in any sport, unless a MAJOR shift in the collective Indian psyche is made soon:

"There is also a school of thought that believes that Sunil Gavaskar might do the job better, if there is need for a change, and it is believed - despite his extensive television commentary commitments - that he is not averse to the idea, however incredible that may seem. That might just suit the board perfectly, for there are few in India who will publicly criticise Gavaskar, even if the team fails under his tutelage."

Greatness can never be achieved by mere 'Idol worshipping,' as status quo, while it may seem comfortable, does not challenge anyone to become better than their current state. Many of the senior players are irate at the possibility of being questioned about their work ethics. However, do they hold themselves accountable for not having produced when it counts the most? I am sure that I will get a billion replies to justify how those seniors had performed great 'in the moment that mattered!'

I am by no means questioning the commitments of the seniors and will fully acknowledge that they have made significant contributions in the past when it 'did matter.'

Having said that, I also think that the first phase of fixing 'what's wrong with Indian teams' starts with accountability! Unfortunately, due to our tendancies of 'Idol worshipping,' some of the players may think that it is their 'rights' to continue playing despite recent poor performances. I suggest that it is a priviledge, rather than a 'right' to be able to play on any of the sport teams. I am sick and tired of hearing from senior players that the fault is with coach, BCCI or the captain. I am equally sick and tired of hearing that a billion fans would 'Idolize' players based on their past performance, but would be more than willing to point fingers at everyone other than their 'idols' when things go bad.

Being an Indian, and a supporter of every great achivements from Indian team, my message is that forget about who is to blame, but look within you. Forget about politics, commercialism or past heroics, but find that spirit of excellence even if it does not meet the conventional ways of doing things. Measure the current performance, not based on past performance, but based on effectivity and impact for on each series.

We, as a nation, need to rapidly shift from the culture of 'idol worshipping' to a culuter of accountability and responsibility.

If we don't, we will be repeating this blog, or the main flavor of it, every four years.

It will take a lot more than just changing the Coach or captain or shift in the BCCI, the change will have to come from the collective psyche of a billion plus nation to have a common vision.

Are we there yet?

First of all, lets go back to where it all starts. Forget Greg Chappel and Senior/Junior players etc etc. Take Australia, they have a domestic circuit where players play at a level which is as tough and challenging as the international arena. Turning pitches, Pacy bouncy pitches, atmosphere supporting swing and seam movement. Thus, to their advantage, they have strong bench strength. Now, they are in a position to drop players who underperform. Lets take India, lets say we wanna drop Sachin or Ganguly. Do we have one player solid in defense and strokeplay with a calm head in all conditions? Not one, not even Dravid displays that since he's taken captaincy. Englad gave Captaincy to Flintoff, and his performance suffered, they lost world's best All-rounder to Captaincy. Big MISTAKE!!! India, had a good leader and balanced TEAM under a WELL-RESPECTED coach John Wright. Some Smart-alec came across and said its time for fresh ideas, and out goes all the hard work of Wright. Everything went WRONG then from a peak (17 winning run chases) subsiding slowly to a trough, an absolute LOW!!! If we, or the BCI are going to get so impatient as to get results instantly without sowing the seeds for a prolonged growth and sustained stability for future, things may happen but for a shorter duration and worse they may not happen at all. Drop anyone you want today from Indian team, Can one intelligent person out there tell me who to pick in the playing 12??? WE NEED to get our pitches sorted, our domestic circuit improved, having another 6 team league won't help if thye play onthe same grounds n pitches and conditions in India. I think we need the more experienced players in Indian Cricket to have a bigger say in improving the domestic circuit. Then we can go and pick replacements, and THEN only THEN can we ask "Sir" Tendulkar, and "Sir" Harbhajan Singh to sit out until they get their games right!! You are easily talking about 2 to 3 years till results start showing.

The following has got nothing to do with the Chappell-Senior players episode.If someone thinks it is he is right to draw his own conclusions!
Son(going out to write an important examination).
Father :Do well, son.
Son :What are you saying,dad?
Father :No son,you have to perform well in the exam so that....
Son :Whenever I go write an exam,you are talking like this,this is very bad!
Father :Son,please understand for the past few exams,you have not done well.So....
Son(raising his voice):This is not correct!You are putting me under pressure and making me terribl y insecure!
Father : No son, don't get upset,all I am trying to tell you is you should be more focussed while writing an exam and....
Son (shouting at the top of his voice):No, No! Get out, I don't want you here, get lost!
Father: OK son, I am leaving.
(there are many people who want to settle scores with this father and they all surround the son and sing praises of him for what he has just now done and say ,"you are now free of that pestering fellow, go and enjoy there is nobody to question you "!

Past shouldn't matter!
Why should Sachin be still in the team ?
Just because he has given his life to cricket,he has played for 17 years,done a lot of work,has been a star performer!
This is where the problem's root lies,this is called to be greatful,hero worshipping.
Sachin hasn't done anybody a favour by playing for India successfully,that was his job,he had to do it.And i am not greatful for that!
I think the solution lies with keeping a blend of good attitude senior players with in-form young guns with coach as dav whatmore.
My New Indian Lineup:
1.Sachin (c)
2.Dravid
3.Yuvraj
4.Kaif (wc)
5.Raina
6.Dhoni
7.Karthick
8.Zaheer
9.Piyush Chawla/Powar
10.Munaf
11.Ranadeb Bose
12.Sreesanth
13.Utthapa
14.Shikhar dhawan
15.Ishant Sharma

I think this is the best inform lineup..right now ....you can have a bit of chopping and changing in batting department with cheteswar pujara,ravneet ricky and under-19 young guns still waiting in wings...Bowling i think agarkar should be shown the door permanently(Not a big match player and been given a long rope!) ....Other who should be shown door permanently is ganguly...Harbhajan,sehwag,pathan might make comebacks after county seasons only(like zaheer did).
Test team should possess the core of the experienced guys(I think present test team is OK!)
Though i wud like to see more firepower in bowling!

This is a classical case of foreigner trying to sell us Indians the precious commodities of discipline, dedication and hard work and getting booted out in the process. This is not the last time it will happen…

How very sweet, when the other teams are playing Super-8 and doing their best to win World Cup. The Indian team is indulging in mud slinging and playing blame game. That too with Sachin Tendulkar- the so called best batsman of world.

Keep fighting

To Mr parth who says that Greg showed his middle finger to the people in bengal...may i ask him one question...last week ganguly was given a heros welcome at the ariport by his bengali supporters as if he was part of a winning team. Our Indians keep regional interests above the nation.And when a foreigner questions our lethargic attitude it hurts us...No wonder we are still a 3rd world country..Sachin could have silenced his critics thru performance and not by words that have to meaning..

It's typical of Indians to degrade and blame the players when they lose and now it's just another example of that. Indians should learn to leave their inferiority complex behind ..... they should accept the fact that Sachin , Rahul and Saurav have done more to Indian Cricket than Greg ..... One cant help wonder what this is when Indians themselves degrade one of their own. However poorly any Aussie fared no aussie would do this to one of their own and specially give credit to another.

And as rightly pointed out by someone here Mark Taylor is a classic example of someone who was trying to prolong his career merely on reputation.... Now what has Ian Chapell got to say with that ? Or what did he say then ?

No prizes for guessing ..... we all know what he would say.. after all he is an aussie. Indians, learn to be Indian too !

Have been reading Steve Waugh's autobiography lately which, in the backdrop of the world cup debacle, provides great insights as to what went into making Australia such a dominant force in cricket today. I can now see that what Greg Chappell was trying to do was not very different from what Bob Simpson did in the late eighties- to instill a whole new work ethic.
Chappell is perhaps justified in asking for young blood as they would not have been caught in the trappings of superstardom yet. I cannot imagine what advise he could give to a player like Sehwag who has always relied on his hand-eye coordination to see him through and now that it isn't , is not even contemplating building his technique . In a television interview , He said - "Have faith , this is just a bad patch " . To me it seemed like he was simply wishing that his dreadful form would go away with time instead of taking systematic measures to tighten up his game.
Agreed, things are not so black and white, but surely the coach could also be made a selector instead of being given the perfunctory hearing. That way, no one plays pass-the-blame game anymore.
It would do no good to get a few young players since they would have the same dogma passed on untill it gets ingrained .
A complete overhaul should purge Indian cricket of the accrued baggage of endorsements and past repuation to live upto.

Adding to your comments Soumya, Where was Sachin Tendulkar until this whole 'attitude' issue was leaked to Media? I didn't see him coming out and plead to fans for support or apologizing for their poor show at work(they get paid remember!) right after the WC - They sneaked their way out of Airport. I wasn't surprised when he barged in to support the team (when questioned?) but when it mattered on the ground against minnows, he wasn't there - comic hero. I am not trying to undermine what he has done to Indian Cricket or the team in the last so many years, I salute him for that but he is no bigger than cricket.

People have all rights to question a Public company if it not doing well - this anology applies to cricket as well - VP's to CEO should make their way out if they dont perform well.
Bring on the Youth, I was exited to see Sachin playing the great Wasim when he was 16 and am prepared to wait and see youngsters play their heart. Cheer up Folks, Indian Cricket is not dead yet and people come and go but Cricket is here to stay.

Satish B
Sunnyvale,California

I'm tired of hearing how fantastic and free of politics Australian cricket is. If it is indeed free of politics, then why wasn't Brad Hodge in the playing eleven the past few games and instead replaced with a freshly injured symonds? Symonds is to Australia what Tendulkar or Dhoni is to India. To say Australia isn't star crazy, is crazy in itself. Why are Sri Lanka so successful then? They haven't dropped star players. Jayasuriya was left out for the briefest of periods, but faith in him has been solid ever since, even during lean patches. Jayawardene took the best part of a year to scratch out a good knock--faith was shown in him. Sangakarra hasn't played an innings of repute since the first ODI in India, he's still in the team, isn't he? Then why are Sri Lanka still such a powerful side?
Perhaps the fact is that India played poorly against Bangladesh, leaving themselves too much to do against Sri Lanka. If the Indian fans, the public and the media weren't so egotistical, we would understand that the team's loss has very little to do with bench strength, angry seniors, or inconsistent players. Maybe fate just wasn't on our side.
Chappel's exit is a great boon for India. Any coach in world cricket is meant to stay behind the scenes and fuel a team. He's the silent catalyst in every game. Chappel seemed more intent on being the steering wheel and the driver, and he would only take on the passengers he wanted aboard. He had a strange obession with Karthik and Raina, two overrated fielders and severely overrated batsmen. I'm convinced he played a part in Pathan's miserable form, and in the excess pressure placed on Tendulkar, Dhoni, Yuvraj and the captain himself. We know what he did to Ganguly, don't we?
Indian cricket will stand up once more. This world cup has been a joke from the beginning. Poor organization, lack of decent attendance, murders and controversies, inclement weather, and one-sided contests have made it dull, mundane and eerie. Choosing the caribbean for the world cup was a foolish decision. Maybe something needs to be said about that.
One Chappel's gone, hopefully someone will shut his brother up, too. India can stand up on their own. We need a good coach: someone mentally strong, who can bond with the team and pick the boys up. What we don't need, is any more talk of retirements, replacements and the reintroduction of youth. Throw out Karthik and Raina, bring in Kaif and Pathan. Let the rest of the team stay the way it is.

The next captain should neither be Dravid or Sachin or Ganguly.
VVS Laxman should be given the captaincy in Tests and Md. Kaif/Dinesh Kaathick for One dayers. Was'nt Graeme Smith too young when he got the captaincy of South Africa?

There have been some very interesting thoughts coming out of this blog. I was speaking to a colleague today (he is a passionate Indian, I'm Australian) and we agreed that if Sachin was Australian we would have become fed up with him a long time ago. No player in Australia is above them team. Yes Mark Taylor had an extended run of poor form but he was captaining the team to series win after series win and he did eventually have to save his life with a century. He was very close to the door.

My opinion is that there is too much dead wood in the Indian team. I used to think of Sachin as "the great one" and thought that only when he retired would I feel safe when Australia play them. Let me say that I feel very safe when we play them and I see his name in the line up.

But as others have mentioned maybe the back up players arent up to the level and arent really knocking on the door. But the fact remains, if you keep playing a player on his reputation in spite of his mediocre results then you are setting a platform for mediocrity across the whole team. Don't be surprised if the fielding is slack and the bowling is wayward. Maybe India needs some short term pain for long term gain. Australia were an embarassingly bad team in the eighties. Look at them now.

Just my thoughts.

PS: Sehwag needs to go too.

Mr.Chappel, you are right right in exposing the pathetic condition of Indian cricket. People may complain that you didn't open your mouth prior to the departure of the team to West Indies regarding your concerns about the performance of the so-called media hyped champion players in the team,but you are right.Had you opened the pandora box at that time, the same people would have said that there in no unity in the team and the selection committee and coach are at loggerheads and some may even call for your sacking before the world cup and the whole cup preparations would have been in turmoil.I would recommend all of you to read the article " Real Culprits" written by Mr.Rajesh in Cricinfo and would precisely give the correct picture of Today's Indian cricket.Had the BCCI did some homework prior to the world cup like that mentioned in the article, Indian cricket would not have had this sorry state of affairs.

As someone who enjoyed reading "You must like cricket" I am pretty disappointed by this article. It is amusing to see the suggestion of "Chappell taking the high road" by resigning. I am equally convinced that this was the only face saving gesture left to a person, who as a politician, would have made Pawar look like an angel. Since India's poor performance at WC 2007, there has not been a SINGLE day when Greg has not been in the news, accusing all and sundry (senior players, sponsors, agents, selectors, Vengsarkar as the Chief of Selectors) i.e. everyone else but himself and the staff, responsible for the failure. He has been in and out of controversy repeatedly and showed minimal man management skills. Given all of this, did he have any other device left, but to resign, to save himself from being unceremoniously fired ? To give this a spin of "taking the high moral ground and resigning", specially when even a week ago, Greg professed to have no plans to do, is either utter naivety or truly biased reporting. Take your pick.

There are 2 options.
1. If india want to build a young team- they should have kept greg and tendu and co. should be shown the door.
2. If u want to persist with Seniors better get a local coach like Amarnath/Patel etc. No point in getting whatmore/moody if u dont want to change the system.

Chappell did the right thing by resigning;it is no use of coaching a team that does NOT want to play or rather plays when they fancy themselves to play.Sachin Tendulkar's sob story is really funny.When they played Sri Lanka and West Indies at home the same coach and atmosphere must have existed - when they played Bermuda the same coach and atmosphere existed.How is it that only against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the World Cup matches did the whole team think of the coach's remarks and attitude and could not perform.Performance of convenience ? Seems like it.

Chappell was not an inspired choice for coach by the BCCI - a quick review of his record in Australia would have indicated that. He was hampered however by having to pick a team from a squad which included out of form and/or over the hill players who were selected only for sentimental reasons. Once the players walk out onto the ground they can never blame the coach for their own inept performances - if they do they do not have the mental strength to be a successful international cricketer. Indian cricketers, such as the once great Sachin, should be examining their own performances rather than squealing like school girls about an honest assessment by the coach who happens to be on the money. Against decent opposition the much vaunted Indian top order delivered little and if India sticks with the current bunch of has beens it is going to fast become the whipping boys of Asia.

I think it’s not only India, but coaching any of the Asian teams is a challenge to any foreign coach, I think where Chapell well wrong was that before he could understand the culture of the team that he was coaching he started imposing his own.. we Asians are a bunch of temperamental people and it is vital for any outsider to size up the situation learn what clicks and what ticks people off, how the system works, thought processes .. well the list could go on..
This is something that coaches like Dav Watmore and Tom Moody have done well, while adapting to the culture within they have slowly but surely managed to bring in a new way of thinking and a new way of doing and looking at things into the teams they are coaching and the results are evident from the way these teams are performing today. They have gelled well and bonded well with their coaches and work as one cohesive unit.
Well I think india’s loss was Sri Lanka’s gain, because looking back it was Chapell and Moody who were front runners for the Indian coaching job. And when India opted for the former Sri Lanka settled for the latter…
So in a way we Sri lankans should say a big thank you to India, because if roles were reversed in probably would have been Sri Lanka back home after the first round and India heading off to next round with Moody in toe as coach..
So ‘thank you Tom Moody for what u have done for our team.. and here’s hoping this team can build and improve from what you have started irrespective of whether you will still be with the Sri Lankan team or not once your current contract expires.

Some of the common characteristic personality attributes of Indians need a close look:

1. Indians believe in inherited ingenuity and hero worship.

2. There is a great fight for survival and success in India. So, success once won is guarded till confiscated.

3. Such a cut-throat competition make a mind-set that is less likely to see one's own faults.

4. Indians have continuously been watching politicians making insincere statements that are worthy for only passing laughter or entertainment. So, everyone tries to display their oratory skills for the sake of itself.

5. Indians have not shown much achievment in most of the sports. So, cricket has become primordial.

6. All that Greg said, we know in our heart of hearts, are true. We see it in every walk of life.

7. Tendulkar like master batsmen kept quite so far because their brilliance was helping him. Now that his talent is not as good, his other side is getting reflected. I think he should be a normal human being instead of expecting to be treated as eternal hero.

8. Indians are conservative and not receptive to change.

9. We should get back our great qualities that our ancient moral giants have always taught. The seniors have earned enough of name, fame and wealth, now let the youngsters do their bit.

10. The Cricketers are not doing any extraordinary, difficult, painstaking and yeomen services to society by playing. They are just enjoying the play and also get all the benefits. If they believe they have contributed, then let them allow others also to contribute.

11. Cricket, Movies, Gambling are not to be misconcieved as Productive, Creative Works that solves problems and elevates society. They are only for entertainment value. They actually kill many billions of man-hours and trash our economy. Why impoverish our nation just to build few placebo heroes.

So, we need not pay so much attention to it. If not cricket then we have alternatives. They are not like Rice, Wheat , Pulses and Vegetables that we can not do without. So, let us not pay so much attention to all these HullaGulla

S.Venkateswaran

Regarding Soumya Bhattacharya assertion that Australia fires cricketers who don't perform, I would like to know how come Mark Taylor persisted for 18 months when his batting was in shambles. How come Matt Hayden has been given chances again and again even though he has failed miserably sometimes. Yeah I know that he has been phenomenal in this world cup.

The point which I am trying to make is that Australia doesn't believe in firing if you don't perform, they believe in believing in their players, their players have so much confidence that they bounce back from slumps. In India, the moment someone has a bad phase, the first thing we start asking for is to remove that player.

Now that India has lost, the same age old talks wud start again like overhauling the system, bringing on new blood, fast pacy tracks , paid selectors n all tht....Take a break!!!! The problem was with Chappell. He had an Australian way thats fine. There are so many Aussie coaches all round world, but was any one half as controversial as Chappell? Which coach would take heads on with the captain and the best batsman of the country ? Which players did Chappell bring on and were they ready for the international cricket ? he targetted Sehwag, Harbhajan, Yuvraj, Ganguly, Tendulkar, Zaheer and made Kumble out of his plans. Ignored Laxman for ODIs, now thats the core bunch of players for India who have done well over the years in all the conditions barring NZ. These are the same players who gave Australia a run for their money in Test series since last 7 years (2001, 2004), suddenly they become mafia and useless ? Cmon take a break ? WHich coach in the world would show the ugly finger to the fans in the hometown of ex captain ? Have you seen Moody, King, Whatmore, Rixon, Buchanan do that ? No one would do this. We had John Wright as coach for 5 long years, yes it was a cultural shock for him too looking at how India worked, but this is how we work and have been working since ages....Which coach leaks stories to the media ? Who brings out the internal meetings of the team to the media ? And then which player in the world or coach would put up a question mark on Tendulkar s commitment. True he failed in WC and might be struggling for runs, but then his commitment and attitude are unquestionable and no one can get away with it. And it does not matter if he s an Aussie or an Indian....The problem with Chappell was that he never had a fixed set of players. Till the WI series in home, he was not sure of batting order, players for the WC. Constant shuffling of players up and down the order confused the players and the biggest result is Irfan pathan who has lost his zing of bowling....Sehwag lost his confidence after being put up on edge for long. Coach s duty is to instil confidence in his players, not robb them of confidence by intimidating ways. Youth was tried in earlier 2006 and it failed. Raina, Uthappa, Gambhir, Kaif, Santh, Munaf, Karthick, Chawla and many more players were tried, how can you replace the likes of Dravid Tendulkar and Ganguly s quality and calibre in matter of a year or so. If you do want to replace them, then plan out in a phased way, not overnite. Today do we have a backup for Kumble in Test matches ? We dont. Why not groom Piyush Chawla for Tests by giving him more games in ODI level ?

To succeed in India you need some humbleness and modesty -- a prime example is John Wright. He was all that and he had a successful stint with India. Chappell did nt learn this, so he failed and finally was thrown out!!!!!

Why is that comments on this blog seem to exonerate Chappel from his responsibilities. Why do I (non-Indian) feel that Indians are blaming 'their culture' for the world cup debacle. And why oh why everyone thinks that the only way to improve is the Aussie way?

Chappel was appointed national coach to Indian Cricket team. His job was to train and improve players selected for him by the national selectors and manage with the resources (human and other) given to him. I think he had no sense of his job discription. He was not there to introduce and implement policy on national cricket and change the way the Indian People feel about their cricket and their players. There are politicians and experts to do that. If Sachin was the 'holy cow' of the religion that the cricket is in India, Chappel certainly was trying to play 'almighty', if you ask me.

Chappel should have worked within the sysytem rather than trying to change the system. Please remember Chappel took over a team that made it to the finals of the WC in 2003.

I for one enjoy the way Indians react to cricket and their players. It is far more exiting than the lackadaisical western attitude. We (Lankans) love our cricket, and please don't let anyone else tell you Indians how to react to your game and your players.

Good! At least one Bengali support for Greg.

I am from Sri Lanka.While reading most of the posts, I felt are people are missing the main culprit "BCCI".
I am not going to comment whether Greg is a good coach or not.But the "process" BCCI cariied out to select him as coach is one of the biggest commedy I have seen.Can any of you imagine any of the worlds top companies conducting open interviews to select their top CEO's.And thats what the BCCI did
staging a big interview comedy for the benifit of media.Can you imagine IBM,Intel etc or TATA's Mittal's selecting there top execetives using paper advertiments and open interviews?

There is a flurry of such articles because unfortunately we lost a couple of games at the WC. Unfortunately, the format of the tournament is such that those couple of losses knocked us out. Had it been a '99 or '03 type of format, I am sure we could have bounced back. Having said that, it is obvious that there are glaring deficiences in the way cricket is run in India, and they need to be patched. However, these patches should be discussed on an ongoing basis, rather than in bursts following "disasters". Reminds me of how the government starts talking about improving road conditions in Bombay only after the monsoons set in and create huge potholes (read craters), rather than ensuring regular maintenance.

Several young players have been drafter into the side in the past 6-7 years. Some of them played well and established themselves in the side - Yuvraj, Veeru, Bhajji, Dhoni etc. and became integral members of the team. Others were not consistent and got the boot. Of course, there are some unlucky ones who may have vanished into oblivion despite playing well for a few games.

I don't see why everyone is baying for the blood of seniors. All fingers seem to be pointing toward Sachin, which is ridiculous. I find it preposterous when people make comments like - "He has never won matches for India". Only a small fraction of his thousands of runs have come against minnows, the rest are against top class test opponents, and a lot of them on foreign grounds as well. No one, not even Sir Bradman, won matches for his country alone. The bowlers had to get 20 wickets even after he scored his share of runs! So many times over the past several years I have seen Sachin stand tall against the opposition, while others surrender meekly. You can't win a team game like that, with just one star! The only reason India has won more consistently in recent times is because of emergence of other quality players in the team, like Rahul and VVS, and sometimes Sehwag too. And then they have been ably supported by Kumble in the bowling department. I am not trying to say that Sachin is above the team. But lets not make him a convenient scapegoat. I don't he should retire just because he played poorly in the WC. Nevertheless, he should NOT be above the selection procedure. If he is out of form and needs to play some Ranji games to get back in the groove, so be it! But he still has a lot to offer, compared to some other youngster who may be hastily drafted into the side and then disappear into darkness after a couple of series.

I don't find anything new in this whole chapter. It was simple blame game which is played after any major defeat. At this time it was hard to touch the Saurav ( who played for only for his place in the team and not for the country ), Sehwag( who is carry with team from abt 2 years),Harbazhan (useless in good batting pitches) because by the mind set of India they had scored enough( against Bermuda) to be on safer side.
The whole problem lies in how we interprate things does scoring against teams like Bermuda will be counted as good performace if yes then God save our Sport.
Though I will not blame Sachin Tendulkar because he failed in this world cup. Anything which India have achieved is due to Little Champions strong will power and his huge talent. For that case India was in final of last wC only due to Sachin's batting. He is only a simple human being and some failures and bound to happen with him.

And for Chappel unfortunatly he is the one who is goat for this occasion.

The Indian squad should be made to sit together and watch the rest of the matches to learn how to play Cricket at the highest level.The coach,captain,selectors and players should take collective blame for this inglorious exit and stop pointing fingers at others.Chappel has for good or bad decided to go.Others should follow suit.

If people think John wright was a better coach than Chappell....hello wake up to all Indians out there..winning some home series and some ODI matches doesnt make a coach good or bad...if Chappell was brave enough to pinpoint the hypocritical nature of Indian Cricket ...Kudos to him ..atleast he did his job true to the heart..he in his age had passion in him not shown by some of our superstars (bollywood style) ...if demanding perfection and hard work is a crime...please forget you ever achieve 1/10th of what Aussies have achieved ...there the system works for a TEAM and all are the same in front of the TEAM...no one is GOD or they are all mortals playing like GODS for a common cause

I'm living in Melbourne for the last 20 years & know a thing or two about Aussie way. Your article is right.

Has anyone got the guts to shake the system/players in India? I don’t think so. Everyone associated with cricket are slaves of MONEY except the naive millions of supporters who idiotically worship mostly ONLY the batsmen.

NOTHING WILL CHANGE because NOTHING HAS.

whatever the changes made , still india can win only 50% of the matches.but in india we win 70% of the matches and outside india will win 25 to 30% of the matches.its been long time like this % for last 10 or 15 years.
even if three or four players dropped will not make so much difference.
so better give oppertunities to the youngsters.
may our current star players can play may be one or two year more.but i dont think that they can offer more than that.
so if they are sincere to them self and indian people pls feel free to resign and give chances to the youngsters.
from one day team the following person must retire asap.
ganguly,tendulkar,agarkar and harbajan( baji is good for sub continent picthes only.)
try to bring one or two batsmen who can filed and bring three all rounders , and try to give more chances for the new all rounders.

all the best.

Greg Chappell is an ego-maniac and a very insecure person. He has never been and will never be a successful coach. The best he can do is to teach a few tricks to school kids. He needs the whole world to change for him before he can operate effectively. Those proclaiming him to be a good coach, can you answer a simple question, Why was he a failure coaching even in his home country of Australia?

As always most of the articles here r one sided, gloomy and depressing non sense. How could any one say that Indian players play for money ? A world cup defeat doesnt mean this players become bad and useless. They have played cricket with pride and true the results arent great over last 2 years, but that doesnt make them prone to ridiculous criticism from the so called fans. The fans who say all this things dont understand the game and they just do this either for limelight or just to show that they are totally nerd and dumbs when it comes to say a bit about the game. India doesnt play that frequently against minnows of the game in ODIs and TESTS and for that case most of the runs of the Indian batsmen are against quality opposition.

Last 15 years Aussies have dominated the Test cricket and the last series they last lost home was in 1992. Since then it was only one team who came close to beat them (1-1 in 2003-04 thanks to some poor umpiring from Bucknor which prevented Indians to spoil Steve Waugh s farewell party), we have ran them close in almost every test series played against them. Which other team has had even ran close to them in last decade and a half ?

Likes of Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman have scored heavily against Aussies and other top class oppositions.....One defeat doesnt mean the entire team has to be dumped and new team to be roped in. If the coach wants to put the winning ways like an average "Aussie" then do it by proper "processes", not by intimidating players, not by leaking secrets to media and not by dropping the confidence levels of the players and then put the blame on seniors by terming them "maafia"

Greg Chappell, un-doubtfully tried his level best to implement professionalism and processes within players. As every one knows, most of the star studded Indian dressing room doest like these ideas as they have a lot of other things to do other than cricket. Physical fitness sessions were minimized to few players instead of the entire team as other team members are busy doing there personal work or sitting idle and watching TV at there own rooms. They all ignored the basic facts of the game. I have seen personally many times how Indian team behaves when they are on foreign tour. No discipline, no commitments!!! Mr.Greg Chappell tried his level best to bringing in discipline and attitude, but ultimately what he got was just blames from our own star fans who always think Indian cricketers are just God's. So this rotten system has to change. Players should be accountable for the success and failures. BCCI has to ban them from appearing in any commercial adverts. All of them are getting enough money from BCCI itself. Now a days , senior players are performing as per there endowments. If they are short of endorsements, they perform otherwise to keep the endorsement intact; they perform for themselves by prolonging the batting to make landmarks. Too sad..Mr. Chappell , you exposed the other rotten side of Indian cricket. We really saluting you … At least we all can hope, some drastic changes happens in future.!!!

The first task successfully carried out by Chappel is to almost destroy the career of the then topman of the Indian Cricket Team, i.e., the then captain of the side. Then and there itself, I thought that this Australian will not leave until he demolishes the entire Top Order of the Indian Cricket. There are many in the Indian Cricket officialdom, like Kiran More to lend handful of support of this Aussie. It seems that he has already initiated his 'mission destroy', as rumours are doing in large number about his forthcoming indictment of many top Indian players, including, believe me, including Sachin Tendulkar. As such, I am surprised, as he intends to leave the scene, with his task of destroying the Indian Cricket, unfinished. However, I hope that with the 'trouble / division creater' set to leave our nation, the Indian Cricket would flourish again, provided sanity prevails in the minds of the 'so-called' bosses of the Indian Cricket Board. If the Board, merely to sympathise with a foreigner in Chappel - let our heroes down, then there will never a bright day for Indian Cricket in the near future.

I dont think v will improve when v have people like the guy b4 me...voicing their opinions. I say drop sachin and ganguly..no doubt thye r great players but they have passed their sell by dates....plead and beg with chappell to remain and chuck out the idiots who cant field, cant bowl cant bat and are not proud of playing for India.

I dont really understand whats so fuss about Indian team exit. India played to its full potential and this is the best they can do, period. Even if Chappel puts 11 youngsters we will still have the same result. Trust me. Nothing wron g with chappel or sachin tendulkar. We dont have enough talent or physical and mental strenght to win matches.

Let us enjoy cricket the cricket way. I loved Australia vs SA match and for me in this world cup teams are progressing exactly to their potential.

I am an Indian, but I am not crazy about indian team, because I know very well that they are not as good as other teams. 1983 is pure fluke, every body except we Indians seems to know that.

Let us enjoy world cup in cricketing terms rather than CHAPPEL, INDIA or Pakistan.

In the midst of a situation , we needed a person who evaluates and focusses on the task at hand which was what, we needed, to have a fair shot at the world cup.
A person who has passion and believes that there can be a win - win everywhere.The surprise is there was nobody who could do this despite the powerful persona;lities in Indian cricket
The polity of cricket is now evident and the fact that heads roll goes to show that none of them had neither the desire or capablity to be the person to set things right.
Under the circumstances, we need to have a system where no player is allowed to become a superstar by history but by current form only

Hi the Gentleman (both after & before me)! Do you agree with me or not that Greg is highly instrumental in upstaging Ganguly? Have you ever heared the calls for the heads of the great West Indians, the then champions, when they lost to India, not once but twice, during the 1983 World Cups? Just because of the support they received from their Board and the public in general, they came back very strongly to thrash their conquerer India. The job of a Coach is supposed to rectify the flaws in the style of play of players and not monitor the attitudes of individuals. Greg failed miserably in this aspect and he started thinking about himself too big for his shoes. He simply doesnt know how to handle things and he is more interested in creating controversies, confusions, insecurity and instability. One day or the other each and every true Cricket fans would realize this.

Its a cultural thing. Owning up is definately not our strength. Like Manjrekar said he has shown the mirror to Indian cricket. I hope this can put an end to the heroism culture in sub-continent. No one is larger than the game, and we should take a lesson from Sri Lanka. A far less talented side but competing on spirit and fielding. Hats off to Mahela and his men.

This is a great blog. allowing all bellicose Indian fans to let out their ire, acting as a pressure valve. Hope no one becomes violent and kills anyone.

I sit here as an Australian, lilving in london, working next to a Nigerian born englishman and a English pastport holding Indian gentleman.

Why are locations important? Because the english-Indian next to me just suggested that selections for teams at every level of Indian cricket are influence by almost everything other than skill with willow or leather.

I have read all the comments on here and i make two points:

1, I dont believe John Buchannon is a good coach, but what he does well is point out things that need to be worked on and rely on the senior members of the team to provide leadership

2, Selections for most international teams are made on performance first and foremost. And here is the differene - performance when the team needs it (i.e. backs against the wall and struggling) are more important than those recorded on perfect batting or bowling days.

I want to see India back in good form, but without obvious committment i dont believe this can happen (and committment includes fielding well - in fact committment can almost be measured by the desire shown in the field)

Can anyone on here seriously say that a TEAM can blame consistently poor performance on the coach?

At some point someone needs to ask why the senior players in the team have not stood up to be counted when needed.

No histrionics, i wont be back to read them so dont waste your time - just think back to the last time that Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly threw themselves athletically at a ball to stop a single in the first ten overs...

Its all about hunger and desire - chasing the ball and wanting it is a measure of that and the Indian side is lacking this - no coach should be blamed for this.

I think we still need to consider what will be good for Indian cricket. Chappell comes from a country where cricketers play on their merit and not on their past reputation. A player like Steve Waugh had to make way for younger blood when his performance decline started. Whereas in Indian cricket, a player has always been bigger than the needs of the national team. Take the case of Kapil Dev going for his record. Even now with all respect to Tendulkar ( and I am a big fan of Tendulkar you can never question his credentials) I think he needs to realise that he is not the same Tendulkar from 2003. People blame Chappell for forcing Ganguly out of the team but do they really think he deserved to be in the team. I agree that all these are great players but they can not simply rest on their laurels and go on. This is a national team and the aim should be on the team and not on the individuals who make the team. I would have loved to see Chappell continue because I think Indian cricket needs a straight talking coach.

.. a writing tip. Construct smaller sentences. constructng big sentences, that are forcibly and often unnaturally joined by conjunctions make for painstaking reading and equally uncouth writing .

In this article you coerced your thoughts into one sentece with semicolons !! Seriously dude.. "SE-MI-CO-LONS"?? .. in today's day and age ??

Excellent analysis by Soumya Bhattacharya . I am surpised unlike the majority of Bengalis the writer didn't bash greg chappell.Kudos for speaking the truth...I would blame the media for hyping the game and potraying an ordinary team as superstars...

Going through the above comments I find the same old cliched arguments in favour of the 'old' guard in the indian team.Tendulkar has done us proud for so many years and he loves India etc,Ganguly and these very 'old' players reached the world cup final four years ago and more of the same.I hope people just shut the hell up about what the team did four years ago,how Tendulkar is playing for India and not for money and so on and so forth.Just look at their records for the last two years on various wickets and Tendulkar wouldnt even make a club side.I read someplace that Tendulkar makes 40 crores a year from advertising as long as he is in the team.Yeah sure,he is not playing for money.He is playing and blocking a youngster's career out of the goodness of his heart.Kaif surprisingly averages almost twice what Tendulkar does overseas in the last two years.Yet we have people saying so much service to Indian cricket,he is our kohinoor,let him decide when he will retire ( thats smart..and forego 40 crores per year ).And he should stop bleating about how 'nobody cares about how we (the players) are feeling '.Care about how you are feeling...lets see...How many international runs did you score all year Sachin, and how much money did you make.No, we are not feeling very sad for you at all.Just shut up Sachin and score runs or get out of the game.

Wat ever people say about the chappell may be different. If you ask me i say India needs people like him. because it is game we want not the politics. If you cannot maintain the form you are out and some one who is more bettere then yohim will come in. never see the age senioritiy or who or where is he from. if you can play and win for India you are in or else you are out. This culture is not present in India, because we always have a hero and think he is for ever noone can replace him. This is not natures rule. heros are made and replaced time after time. So we need a change and this is the time to do it.
Hope it happens.

The 'Chappell experiment' was never gonna work for us as like Tendulkar he was always going to be greater than his role. the right person then and now would be Mohinder Amarnath as no player past or present can even match his determination and grit when he played for India and when he was dumped and then found his way back a no of times. He was a very disciplined cricketer and I'm sure he is even now and has lots to offer to the players in terms of advicing about mental and physical fitness(he is in great shape even now),temperament and how to stay at the crease and build an innings all of which is needed for the team as a whole, especially for our 'genius special cricketer'.

Watching the England Sri Lanka match last night it became sadly obvious to me what is lacking in India cricket: Heart (or in olde english "bottom"). As an Indian, I watched Bopara cool as a cucumber fielding and then batting with pride and thought whether he would have this attitude were he playing for India. I think not...who is to blame?

The coach cannot be blamed for the fact that Indian cricketers with even a modicum of success become brand icons rehearsing for a future carreer in politics/Bollywood or indeed catering trade when in fact they should be in the gym.

The coach cannot be blamed for the fact that our thin skinned demi gods give vent to spoilt brat tantrums every time they are criticized.

The coach canot be blamed for the fact that there does in fact exist a coterie (I will not use the word mafia in case one our cricket heroes attacks me with tears) of players whose vested interest in remaining in the India team is so great that team and national interests can be readily sacrificed.

We are a nation that produces academic brilliance and cultural giants but sporting pygmies lionised by an uninformed and pandering public.

We indian people have very short memory...ya we didnt do good in world cup...but what abt other worldcups..we reached finals and semi finals in most of them....fact that they didnt perform well does not mean that they are paper tigers...there is talent....when team is losing,it needs support from indian ppl the most.

Even though we keep saying sachin is a legend. Does anyone read what has he done recently for india. As someone remarked, why dont we let Gavaskar and Kapil play now, i am sure they did much more for indian cricket. Simple, look at performance and sachin does not stack up. And if you look at performance, when we needed sachin to perform, he had failed miserably. If you ask me when did sachin performance, i would say just two times, once against pakistan in previous WC and another against australia in the desert match. 2 matches over a 17 year career.. just does not stack up. Lets stop worshipping cricketers and look at their performance, maybe then indian cricket would look up.

well this is how i see it......subcontinental teams can be on club, first class, or test level, and you can even count gali muhalla (local) teams, there is always politics, who should or should notbe the captain, and who should do what and bat where and ball when and thing like this....

this fact that there is only one captain and 10 defacto know it all captains in our teams has anad will always be there, minus exceptions like imran and kapil (and hence success)....

a foreign coach can not understand this way of thinking and can not deal with this, so even though chappel was doing the right thing of applying the policy of u perform and u play on indian cricket it backfired as it was supposed to.....as dropped players even when they r out of the team keep on pluggin and moaning and complaining and the hysteria increases once they r in the team and now can do it from the inside.....

The responsibilty of this fiasco in my opinion is based on this fact that indian cricket has a few unofficial godfathers who are consulted on every matter (namely gavaskar and ravi shastri......if you remember they are the ones who opted for chappell)

if indian cricket needs a new direction they need to isolate themselves from these two gentlemen as a first step as they may have been great players but as cricketing minds i have my doubts (look at gavaskar's suggestion as part of icc cricket committee.....with the biggest example is outlawing of the bouncers took a lot away from thebeauty of cricket and the tussel beteween batsmen and bowlers)

So right or wrong this is my view fromt he outside looking in

You learned how to bake the finest bread, cake. You got lesions from the best chef’s of the world to prepare Spanish, French, Italian and Indian cuisines. You got a certificate, framed and hanging in your drawing room wall. But when you were asked to cook you failed, it’s pathetic but why you are blaming your teacher (the chef). Truth is India lost, so did Pakistan (they even lost their coach Bob for good). A Chief of Army do not go to the war field to fight shoulder to shoulder with a soldier, he is there to guide them to victory, if soldier fails

It looks like Indian Cricket fans are trying to blame the Coach, why if he is a paper tiger now they why BCCI appointed him 2 years back he was a paper tiger then too? Fact is team India must have had influence (????) also team was heavily relying on Shachin, Shewag, Dravid, Dhoni, Yuvraj etc. which was totally wrong. Very one should contribute that is why we call Team.

Team India needs to bring fresh, young cricketers and Indian veteran cricketers to coach them, These veterans should give them training, share their experience, techniques & knowledge. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh should play regularly among them. They should play tirelessly all year, this will help all 4 teams to be striking force and Asia will dominate in cricket.

Let’s hope these 4 nations work together and bring the lost pride back in 2011

If you love cricket, forget what happened to the Indian team in WC 2007 and watch and enjoy the Super 8 matches: some really exciting stuff and quality cricket is being exhibited by New Zealand, Srilanka and South Africa, apart from the REAL giant: Australia! I for myself, do not mind that The Indian team is not here in the super-8: they would have lost many more matches and that would be even more humiliating. I feel personally happy for ur neighbours Sri Lanka for their spirited show despite having a number of senior players in the side : I am proud the way Jayasuriya and Murali are performing at this age! Looking forward to the SL-NZ, Aus-NZ and SL-Aus matches.

Hello,

You make a good observation that I want to hop on -- Greg Chappell was trying to implement the Aussie system of merit over "seniority". Unfortunately, our entire system is so anachronistic and archaic that to see players like Tendulkar and Kumble (who are normally reticent in public) speak against Chappell, is sad. I strongly feel we needed someone like Greg to jolt our system. However, we did not have the gonads to tolerate it. We are all so soft-bellied -- fans, media, Board and players alike. The whole Greg Chappell experience has exposed us and our inadequacies. Instead of being man enough to accept and embrace change, we are all wanting to wallow in the comfort zone of mediocrity.

I don't think anything will change.

Greg, there are many of us lovers of Indian cricket who knew why you were there, what you were trying to accomplish and what resistance to your methods finally led to. I am sorry that things did not work out as some of us wanted to. I am afraid that everything will be back to 'normal', and I am not proud of that.

We are not talking about the culture or the sporting talent of Australia. We are talking about Greg Chappell. Every Tom, Dick or Harry in Australia is not a great coach or a great player for that matter. The current Australian team has the likes of Gilchrist and McGrath who are so very different in their on-field behaviour. The point is just being an Australian does not make Chappell a good coach as some of you suggest. Neither is Australian cricket devoid of all controversies and imperfect selections. The fact is Chappell was a failure coaching in Australian domestic cricket. How can then the culture of Indian cricket be blamed for his failure here in India. Not to say that there aren't any problems with Indian cricket, but there have been a few foreign coaches who had a bit more success in the subcontinent than Mr Chappell.

Greg Chappel was on mission to destroy indian cricket. In last WC, India played in finals and lost to Aus and won all league matches. For last 3 years coach did many experiments, all in the name of WC. No player was played consistently in one order and all were shuffled. Every placed was confused and lost forms. With the exception of Yuvraj. Yuvraj escaped as he was injured. That didn't stop determined Chappel to shut out Yuvraj by calling him arrogant.

If you look back ,the reason behind the appointment of chappel as india's coach was the board was keen to instill aussie mental toughness into the india team and no doubt chappel was a right choice at that time.Things went miserably wrong ever since his appointment for non cricketing reasons.Yes the coach has every right to drop a player if he is underperforming.He also has the right to question the attitude of players if they don't perform.That doesn't mean that the players attitude throughout his career is questioned.I can't really understand why Tendulkar was so offended by that.Chappel's resignation was a blow not for him but for the purpose for which an aussie was appointed as the coach.

I read some where in cricinfo only that - Rahul Dravid as a captain, did not get what he gave to his captains. I was looking at the match the whole day. The richest cricketer did not had a clue what is bowled by Dilhara Fernando. You can see the lack of reflex. If chappel has shown the mirror and if we are brave enough to look at the image in the mirror - that ball from Dilhara will be replayed again and again. I heard news about another ex-captain not obliged to field in the slips and not ready to speed up the tempo of scoring runs against Bangladesh. Blaming a Captain is ok if you are defending a score. If you are chasing a total of 250sh, you should not blame anybody in the world but yourself. I would like to ask Tendulkar, Ganguly, Shewag, Yuvaraj and Dhoni to answer - are they believed at any time of their batting innings they could win, I don't think the answer is - YES. These are self claimed cricket personalities of India - who are like Tigers in home and Rats out side. Before blaming anybody they should answer their salt and soul. They have their own mouth peices and ink paid by their agents to bolster their ad projects. Those agents make people speak and write for their employer. When I went through the article of Sangakara - I can understand how sincere that writing against a Calcutta-Daily or Maratha-Daily. In my view - A player who has played over 100+ matches - don't have any right to blame a captain or a coach for his failure. If a player can get hurt so much just because his attitude was questioned does not make him non-attitude. Just by taking a stand for himself itself is an attitude - is itn't???. But those demi-gods may think they are deserved to have that attitude. They could even think - it is their right to have an attitude. Sorry - these Tendulkars, Gangulys, Shewags, Agarkars, Harbhajans, zaheers, Dravids, Dhonis, Yuvis will all play in next world cup under home pitch prepared for them and think 2007 persuit was a Chappel's mistake. People should stop buying thing which are advertised by these crickters, just because you are paying for their false prestige or attitude you call.

Greg Chappell tried to fix this broken culture but didn't know that the plague which Indian mindset is filled with cannot be cured in 1-2 years. Truths hurts most of the time and we Indian do not like it. This is one of the worst day in Indian cricket where a person who speaks truth have been made to resign. Gregg Paid the price for trying to remove the dirt, being straight and calling spade a spade.

Gregg probably didn't know that this is the country where people celebrate Dewali on destroying Babri Maszid, do not let Sonia Gandhi become prime minister after winning the election by playing emotional cards of false patriotism to cash on sentiments of the country, make Khusbhu apologizes for talking on pre-marital sex on the name of Indian culture & behind doors do the same, where no-one comes as a witness when professor Sabbarwal was murdered in view of 400 public, where CBI protects the biggest gambler of Indian cricket Kapil and Azharudin on match-fixing, where Jagmohan Dalmiya leaks the email and Media & we Indians blame it on coach, where politician still cash on increasing reservation even after 60 years of independence, where people still believe in astrology , fate and magic more than themselves to blame luck for failing in life and where people feel happy by seeing someone else being humiliated.

Truth is always bitter. The current crisis in the Indian team is just because of the fact that the dirt has always been swept under the carpet. All this blame game and accusations was an attempt to divert the anger of whole nation and I am amazed to see how our incompetent players are blaming it on the coach. We have never had a good team in the first place and didn't perform well on the field outside our country. Seniors players are still in the team on the basis of past glory. Since Sep 2005 Sachin averages 14.09 in 11 one-day matches, Sehwag averages 27.44 in 10 one-day matches against Australia and South Africa. Only gods knows how long Harbhajan will go wicketless and still lives on the miracle of 2001 against Australia. Agarkar, no-one know why is he consistently in the team. Ganguly name has now become a synonym of dirt and his return to India team was a blunder. How many times these so-called super-starts played well against AUS, SF, NZ and ENG?.

How cowardice was it from Sachin to come out in Media and create the sas-bahu kinda emotional drama to divert his and team failure attention. No doubt he failed as a captain and on more than one occasion. I ask where is the performance?. Don't these so called super stars of indian cricket believe in themselves and their capabilities?. Fear of failure and insecurity comes only when you either do not have talent or don't believe in urself and reach a position which you don't deserve. If you are good enough, you will automatically come back if you are dropped.

Same team was happy about the experiments Greg did earlier and never raised any issues why?. Isn't it true that when the team did well by experimentation everybody went gaga over Gregg's tactics, but with every loss and the same tactics were thrashed. No questions where asked and no tactic were questioned when we won continuous 17 one-day matches, first time in cricket history we won a test match in South Africa and we won a series in west Indies after 35 years.

Gregg was a perfectionist and always played to win. He wanted to build an indian team who believe in themselves and do not fear of anyone. He needed a new blood for that as old minds are always sick and tired as you can see now but unfortunately new blood also didn't live up to the expectation and he had to become the scapegoat of another typical plagued indian culture.

Thank Gregg, you have been a true leader and showed the Indian cricket and players the mirror. You have done what Jhon Wright couldn't do for 4 years and other coaches which we anyways didn't except to do anything new. Only after coming you Indians board realized that selections should be on performance basis. Thanks for being the first person to expose the so called demi gods of cricket, selectors and BCCI and making everyone being awake all the time. You have taught us what is good and what is not and where do we need to go from here now. You will be remebered the first person to break the rule as Gibbs will always be remembered being the first person to hit 6 sixes in an over no-matter who breaks the record now.

So much has been said about questioning someone’s attitude can only improve their performance. I strongly disagree! Take Sachin Tendulkar’s case for instance; about 12 years ago the then Indian coach Ajit Wadekar said that a successful coach should know how to handle the individuals. While some players needed a push from the coach while underperforming, Tendulkar needed the coach to hold him back. He went on to say that Tendulkar would burn himself out at the nets after a bad performance and as a coach he just had to say, ‘enough for the day’. Such was Tendulkar’s character and it had universally been accepted till Greg Chappell came into the picture. You can not question something and expect it to improve proportionally. Try questioning your wife’s chastity for the sake of improving you marriage! Yes, Tendulkar has not been playing well recently. That alone does not warrant questioning his attitude, unless he has not been trying enough. A reporter or a fan who does not know what goes on behind the scenes can question a player’s attitude based on their performance. But a coach’s duty is to design a solution to a player’s problem and support him implementing it.

A lot has also been said about not dropping Tendulkar while underperforming; the reality is that even though he was not meeting the expected standards there has been no one else to replace him. Look at his record in Ranji trophy matches (eg: the recent finals) and the Challenger Trophy matches. He is definitely one of India’s premier batsmen. He performs better than any other domestic players and that is why has been selected. Many comparisons have been made with the Australian selection process, but you should remember that Mark Taylor was dropped to be replaced by Mathew Hayden who has playing exceptionally well at domestic level for many years; Mark Waugh was replaced by Darren Lehman (domestic player of the year three years in a row before replacing Mark Waugh). Healy was replaced by Gilchrist, Damien Martyn was dropped when Steve Waugh came back from injury, and Mathew Haden was earlier dropped for Michael Slater who made a comeback after being dropped for Mathew Elliot. The list goes on and on. Now, can someone please tell who in Indian domestic scene is playing well enough to replace Tendulkars, Laxmans and Sehwags? Robin Uthappa showed some promise in the recent Challenger trophy games and went on to replace Sehwag (as an opener). Has he done enough to warrant his selection?

Yes, changes are required. But they are required at the grass root level to produce more talents. That is the only way Indian cricket can progress. That is how the Australians became number one (not just by replacing Mark Taylor and Mark Waugh). How about a cricket academy at national level to breed more talent at a younger age?

I think, as always, we are getting too fixated on Greg Chappell, and the individual players, and sidestepping the core issue. Hankering over what Chappell or X, Y, Z did is digging into past issues, arguing more about personality/style issues, which can never give any definitive, progressive answers- but what about Indian cricket? all we continue to do is to irresponsibly keep passing 'judgements' on whether Chappell was right or not, whether it was ok to push Tendulkar to achieve more or not?. Is that really the core issue or the objective for us as a cricket loving nation?

A good way to analyze the whole issue would be to look at the benchmarks we wish to achieve as Indian Cricket. Anyone who has seen the Aus-SA match in the World Cup, will know the level of competence we want to attain or even exceed to be the best team in the world

If we agree this is a fair sort of goal to achieve, then the next job is finding the men who would take us there - be it the coach, the administrators, or the players. The criteria for each one is certainly different, but most importantly, for the players instead of looking at past records, I think the key question that needs to be asked is whether, moving forward, X has it in him to take us to the level we want? & if there is even an iota of doubt, lets not invest in such players.

Likewise, for coach, the need is for a strong vision, coupled with tactical appreciation of the situation, for its not just about where you need to reach, but also about what steps to take today to be there..

I am not a professional sportsperson, but the analogy I draw is from corporate life. Why is it we, a country of over 1 billion people, have not been able to create a single company of the scale/size of Microsoft, Nokia in our history? Be objective, dispassionate, and honest- I think the answer that you get is the root cause of the same being echoed in the travails of our cricket team as well...
Cheers

India also has great bench strength but it is not tested - the only thing they like to change is the coach and so Chappell gets the door (by his own hand or a hidden hand) Cricketers past and present are demi gods in India (if not actors) Half or more of the Indian team are actors for commercials and even Gavaskar and Kapil are still acting hair color and all !!! Pressure comes from being a commercial item so you have to handle it or get out - everything has an expiry date not only the coach. There are no qualified Indian coaches to take over and it is inevitable that the stupid board will employ another Australian - Look at a mirror long and hard and let your brain do the deciding not your heart.

The worst thing about this is that Chappell is certain to be singled out as the scapegoat for the World Cup catastrophe. He is probably partly to blame, but I am not surprised about the result because he was given the impossible task of guiding a team that visibly lacks commitment in the field and is governed by an organization being devoured by its own greed. Other than patching up some bruised egos, getting rid of Chappell won't make things better. It will probably make them worse.

I was reading about the arguement Greg had with Sachin around the time the latter was just recovering from his elbow injury. Apparently Greg felt he still hadn't recovered fully and advised him to bat lower down in the order, for the sake of the team. Sachin possibly took this as an indication of lack of faith in his ability to deliver; he took an adamant stand "I want to open". When you make a statement like that, without trying to explain your viewpoint, it sounds downright obstinate. This went on over evening and night, and the next morning he made Rahul tell Greg again, whereupon the latter lost his cool and threatened to make Sachin "sit on the bench" if he didn't agree to bat down the order. Sachin agreed, albeit reluctantly, and was rather cold and ungracious when Greg came to congratulate him for his next century. To me, this incident shows several things. For one, Greg is an assertive person (I wouldn't call him an authoritarian person); he has strong ideas and is willing to take a stand on them, not capitulating simply because the guy opposite him is Sachin, with all his talent, achievement and God-like status in his own country. That takes a lot of courage. Sachin is a gem of a batsman, with great achievements under his belt; but that dosen't mean he dosen't need to prepare, mentally and physically, for the next game, or that he dosen't need to consider the team above his self, even in passing. At the very least, Greg deserved an explanation from Sachin why the latter thought he had to open; he was the coach, an older person, and a great batsman of his own era. Simply insisting in having his way, is not a sign of maturity. By all accounts, Sachin is unassuming, unboastful, modest and we know him to be a fine human being; but I think on this occasion, he lacked perspective.When we lose Greg, we lose a strong-minded, courageous and assertive coach. Would you rather have a meek person, easily changing his stand, concenterating on "getting along with people"? Sachin has a lot of talent, but that dosen't mean that he is always right; perhaps he could have given Greg's opinion a consideration and tried to negotiate with him. What he did instead was to be illogically assertive, like a child, and it speaks volumes of Greg's courage, his forthrighness, and his willingness to put his job at stake by taking the stand that Sachin should be made to sit out the game rather than have his way. I am not saying his opinion was right; I am saying that he had a lot of guts, which we Indians seem to lack. Perhaps that is the difference between the Australian and Indian teams, and that is why they are number 2 in the ranking while India is No. 6 (and Bangladesh is No. 9!).

I think the Indian "culute" of hero-worship sucks. Its time we woke up and smelt the coffee.
Our cricketers are mediocre at best. If we as a nation are going to progress we need to stop worshipping mediocrity and only applaud excellence.
There is no point in blaming Greg Chappell. If India have to improve the quality of its cricket,
they have to be ruthless in demanding performance
from its grossly overpaid and selfish 'stars'.

If they want to rest on past achievements or only go after personal records (like a couple of them seem to be doing), we'll end up with a team of slow moving complacent sloths. What the cricket team needs is a good kick up their backside and I'm happy that they got it!
I hope this is the last I see of Sehwag, Sachin, Harbhajan and Dhoni.
Its time that the Indian team realized that they are not the heroes they think of themselves but an ordinary bunch of cricket players who have been shown their place. So i hope the next time a cop who catches Dhoni or anyone else in the Indian team breaking a traffic signal or having tinted car-windows and punishes them for the offence, doesn't get transfered.

re prashant's post:
honestly!Still seeing things with rose stinted glasses.sachin ganguly kumble and sehwag didnt desrve to be there.Sachi didnt do much.Others converted 0ns into twos.twos into threes when fielding and viceversa when batting.Players like Raina and Kaif would have done the opposite,and odd peice brilliance in the field would have meant getting rid of infleuential oppdsing batsman,and probably chasing thirty odd runs less,which could have made all the difference,even without the above mentioned prima donnas.Drivel is what doesn't agree with your own prejudices.

Shape up or Shut up

I agree with Ian Chapelle's claim that the main problem that created a rift between Greg Chapelle and the senior Indian cricketers was that he challenged them to achieve more and improve in areas which they had under-valued (e.g. fitness and fielding). However, we don't know whether the main problem was their totally recalcitrant attitude or Greg Chapelle's (supposed) inability to gain their trust and win them over gradually to adopting his philosophy. I am not sure that Greg Chapelle recognized and appreciated the challenge of winning over Sachin and Saurav, who are not only great players that have achieved a lot, but whose egos have been hyperinflated by an unbelievably cricket-crazy nation. In this regard, John Wright might have done a better job. However, let there be no doubts as to the validity of Greg's philosophy that fitness, agility, and athleticism are as essential for success in modern cricket, as skill and temperament. This view has been clearly vindicated by the sucesses of Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in ODIs. Traditionally, Indian cricketers have prided themselves on the fact that they have been great players inspite of their lack of fitness and athleticism. Greg attempted to awaken them from this dogmatic slumber and show them that success in modern cricket can't be attained without fitness and agility. Our senior Indian cricketers such as Sachin, Sourav, Sehwag, and Harbhajan may have let Greg Chapelle and the team down by refusing or failing to appreciate this essential truth.

I like the considered comments of readers from Cricinfo unlike another site where there are more emotional and somewhat irrational and even abusive comments.
The basic problem in India is the inability to sift fact from emotion. Chappel being from a different culture was more easily able to do so. Secondly, the World Cup format was a little too skewed in favour of the 'better' test playing nations and the minnows were expected to capitulate. Nobody expected Ireland and Bangladesh to perform the way they did. So when these teams refused to lie down and play dead with their more fancied opponents, all hell broke loose.

Can a coach be blamed if a team that had more than a thousand ODIs under the belt of their top five or six players played like a novice in the first match itself knowing that they could be out of the tournament if they lost that? Can a coach be blamed if their most experienced batsman played all over the ball in a match that was do or die for the team just because he was not played in the top of the batting order? Can the coach be blamed if a pair of batsmen consolidated after early losses and then threw it all away through lousy shots when the match situation required them to stay till the end? As it was another ten runs would have seen India scraping through gainst Bangladesh.

All would have been forgiven if India had got through to the Super 8s even if they had been demolished by better teams that NZ, SA and the big A are anyway. Just ten runs more in the first match was the difference!

More hot air has been expended by the media and our emotional masses on the loss and Sachin has joined the fray!
India is not prepared for a team man like Dravid as captain and a taskmaster like Greg, with all their obvious failings. The Bollywood culture will never allow them to make things better and we will always end up being at the bottom half of the ODI and test rankings. Making Tendulkar or Ganguly captain will ensure a steady and inevitable degeneration of the work ethic in Indian Cricket and the return of cronyism.

We donot have a sports system which is run on pure merit.Right from school cricket upto test level nepotism is rampant.Most of the budding talents are nipped in the bud at the lowest level and thus are unable to showcase thier talent.Where money and power are used to buy seats in cricket team could a coach like Greg ever succeed?The guardians of cricket the BCCI are filled with people whom you would rather avoid and are low in scruples and of dubious background.So can you expect any better from the Indian Team.Is the BCCI going to take responsibility ever?So what do you expect of a body which is not responsible to any one.Greg you are an idealist.And many of us who are idealist believed in your vision.Unfortunately our players having made to the top through lot of slease didnot buy it.You also have been misled to a certain extent by some of our ex players who had an agenda.They clouded your vision as only an Indian can with thier manipulative ways.Let the natives be.That should be a lesson to anyone who seeks to coach the Indians.Don't put your hand in the vipers pit that the Indian cricket has been from time immemorial.And no one is above suspicion.You can't trust anybody including the Indian fans.

I don't get it....when the squad for the World Cup was picked, it seemed to be, by general consensus, the best we had. Who else could we have taken? Raina? Kaif? Neither has scored runs for a long time....there simply is not the bench strength to drop established players. There were none to take their place.

I was quite pleased to see Chappell fail in India, because I dont like the unifying trend that is monotonizing not only cricket but just about every aspect of life. The Australian way is very successful when it comes to winning matches, and one can admire their toughness, but the Australians frequently leave a bad taste with what appears to some others as an overly aggressive, or excessively businesslike mentality. That is their way, and that is fine. Good luck to them, but we dont all have to be that way. The South Africans try to follow the Australian model (especially with Graeme Smith at the helm) because (a) the countries are culturally similar and (b) they are still trying to establish their identity as an international sporting nation, and have never been known for their flair and imagination. When they were new babes Woolmer took them in hand the way Whatmore raised Sri Lanka and subsequently Bangladesh. Now SA have grown up enough to hire a local guy (Arthur), not an international "super-coach" , thereby returning to local character. To me this signifies that they are growing up. Each national team has certain traditions that might be called stereotypes, yet these traditions deliver great variety and delight. If hero worship by crowds and lackadaisical fielding by certain brilliant batsmen is part of it, so what? Let India live or die by her ways. Like England, Australia, Pakistan, and the West Indies, India has very proud cricket traditions. Why should some Australian walk in and say that's not the way to go chaps, you need to do it like we do it over in Oz. Without wanting to detract at all from Woolmer, I would say the same of Pakistan, which is a great cricketing nation, and its standard bearers not likely to respond all that positively to outside advice (even from a great man like Woolmer). FInally hats off to the people of the West Indies for resisting the same trend to having their traditions steamrollered by the commercial motives of the World Cup and not showing up.

At the end of the day Greg Chappell showed he is a class act with his presentation to BCCI. He showed that he is a true professional - no change from his playing days. That he did not get the suppor of the Senior players was beyond his control - somehow this speaks volumes of the professionalism of the Senior players. Was it a case of the big boys believing in their own celebrity - that they are bigger than the game - surely they didn't prove it at the World Cup by not being there when their team required it. Maybe that was their way of hitting back at the coach - well they certainly did that and wrecked the hearts of millions back home. Very very sad...

The coach job in my opinion is more managerial than technical. He has to work with the team that is given to him. That ability will be tested if your strategies are flawed in a tactical sense.One of the crime Greg has committed is , in his eagarness to build the team of future , he created feeling of resentment among players llike Sachin , who during the course of world cup happen to mention that he will play 2011 WC(obviously out of disdain to the opinion of GreG). I f feel that he can play 2011, it is up to him. Actually, Indian cricket administators did not have th Gut to Drop/rest him when he was struggling in 2003. If he had taken a break, he would have been very very dangerous player.

The fact that IAN CHAPPEL opined that Sachin Should retire is case of Greg leaking to the press out of Greg's in security and inability to accept the defeat(in his coaching role).

Aussies are never good loosers?

Lets face it. The indians were pathetic hasbeens who need to take a long hard look at themselves and the structure of indian cricket, if they are serious about improving. All of the so called icons and the idiots that think they know best have shown just how little they know.. Absolute failure is asummation of their campaign. I vcannot think of one positive to come out of the world cup. Ooooops, i forgot, get rid of the coach was successful

To All Indian Cricket Fans:
Stop hoping your international side will be like Australia.
Please use the wonderful feature provided by CricInfo (StatsGuru) to see how well the Australian team performed during the 1980's.
The road to their current level of performance has been long....very very long.

Just another thing to remember: Cricket is just a game. Being knocked out of the World Cup is not the catastrophe you make it out. You still have starving millions, cancer and the common cold.

Get Some Perspective.

With comments from Prashant and Fayez to name a few shows clearly how pathetic Indian cricket is. Sachin, Ganguly, Virendar not needing coaching. What rubbish. That's why India performs poorly.

To all Indian fans, like Stuart so aptly put it, don't even think India can come close to what Australia has done. It takes years and years of consistent team performances, and is not about players trying to get their individual goals and performances recognised.

Its sad that a character like chappel has to go early.He has done nothing to improve the standard of the Indian cricket.The one thing which he did right was pointing the seniors that they are no better than the team

Indian administrators are plain stupid to think that an australian will help them to become world beaters! The aussie or kiwi coaches are there because BCCI has MONEY and India has MONEY!

And the Indian players can not handle fame, money and their cricket! They barely manage to look after their fame and money!

On the top of it all, Indians are STILL divided by 26 states on a lingual basis, would not share river waters and continue to have 26 mini parliments and that many times politicians, which make India the top 3 corrupt nations in the world, easily!

What are you guys complaining about?

No effect changing pillow for headache. No use of changing coach for indian's defeat. We have to change players also.Sachin has so many ODIs. But he couldn't help to win any important match to India. in 1996 semi finals match was same. 2007 was same. He is good for his records not any help for wiining an important match.
Look at how Jasuriya is playing.I havn't seen any day he is concentrating of his runs even at 90 or 99. Even at his 99 he is trying for six to increase team runrate. so we should find players like jasuriya.Dohni only plays well at home not out.so we have to think changing of batsman also

Stuart, cricket just like many other sports needs discipline, training, some good decisions and team work. Just because in this world cup India's performance wasn't good because one or all of the above doesn't necessarily mean that this Indian team is not capable of winning against so called "POWERHOUSE".
And given the fact that Indian team have still very talented players, Indian team can and will fight back. India doesn't have to be like other teams like Australia, for each team have their own strengths and weaknesses. Experts have doubted the strength of Australian bowling after Shane Warne and Glenn Macgrath era . Hiring a Aussie coach doesn't mean we have to follow everything that Australian Cricket follows...India have won the world cup much before Australia did and without so called an "Aussie" coach. Also if you look at the highest runs scored before this world cup started it still goes to Tendulkar. They are the one's who challenged Australia in the last world cup in the finals. Sri lanka actually defeated them in 1996 world cup. Bangladeshis have started to roar as well by defeating so called No. 1 team. Pakistani cricket will fight back too and have won the laurels too. Indian cricket and the crickets played in the subcontinent is here too stay. So don't count on your laurels yet.....

Thanks Mr.Shastri for putting your hand up - it is easy to criticize but to take up a position and help is not always as easy as Mr.Gavasker makes it out to be - He can only criticize but will not do anything else other than hold onto his post with the ICC and lucrative jobs with TV
stations. As for the cricketers doing commercials, why not ? Remember they will only get to perform in commercials if they perform well on the field !! Sometimes the past cricketers may be jealous of the present cricketers earnings and some like to protect their own records ???

Why would anyone apart from an Indian national want to deride themselves by becomeing a coach of your national team? Firstly, Greg Chappell was never allowed to coach the team. Whenever he tried, there was some crying player getting front page whinge time. Secondly, how can you be expected to succeed when you cant even get the players on the field that you deem worthy to play? Culture you call it? I call it idiotocracy(new word?) To hire a coach and then not give them the free reign they need to succed is akin to bying a printing press for the newspaper but not letting ink touch the plates. As for running being the Australian way, with the fanatasism for the game being like it is in India, i would run too. See the problem can only be the coach, makes sense too seeing as he is the member of the team that doesn't go on the field to make a difference. Pity the Indian public cant see this, if they could they may then start to think that maybe he was right in trying to replace some of under achievers you all call "stars/gods", for some who might actually want to be there for the game and country, rather than going through the motions for cash and status. Funny how some of you can see the need but like a baby, dont want to let go of the skirt to see whats on offer outside of what you know. Ohh before I go, your people dont POUNCE on the ball, because they are fat and LAZY....Re.. check out Inzamaan...Pakistan has the same issues..Too Fat too slow too old not pyhsically capable of playing to todays standards.
Try embracing what Greg had to say and who knows, in five or ten years from now...Someone will be claiming his glory..dont and well who knows..but then this is a GAME.. who really cares..we'll still whip you...

Face it, the Indian team is overrated and soft. Tney'd have trouble winning a World Cup even if all the other teams didn't show up.

Arindam what a load of rubbish. Get a life mate. Supporters of India like you are part of the problem. Chappell pointed out the truth. India never wants to hear the truth. And for Sachin Tendulkar, well the day he plays an innings to help India win a big tournament or series especially away from home might be the day he can get truly recognised. See Ponting, the difference is night and day. Yes India won the World Cup before Australia did, but the aussies have shown how strong they are by dominating world cricket for so many years. Part of growing up is acknowledging the issues. I don't think you or Indian cricket can do so from reading what has been put forward. Indian cricket is overrated and the players are especially overratted. Sachin like to play cricket looking at his record on paper but not on the field in the big matches against the big names.

The so-called "comfort zone" that Greg Chappell talked about...I'm not sure how comfortable you're going to be if millions of people watch you play and disappoint whenever you get out.

Well, sanjay you should learn to stand by your team and don't go with the wind of aussie fan...
Read Stuart's comment first..certianly India needs lot of improvement in all areas of the game and play as a team. But you got it all wrong, when you are not acknowledging the talent and strength India possess and what internal conflict does to a team. The question is not who is overrated or not or how much you choose to believe in the media. But we should look at the potential of the team as a whole. If you think Tendulkar plays for the record, I would say think again. Tendulkar gave his life to Indian cricket, but I think he should not have commented about the coach issue atleast not to the media. You don't have to look far, look at Sri Lanka'n team. Look at how well organized they are and how they fight as a Unit. Their senior players are contributing not in terms of quality of the game, but also they inspire the entire team by their performance. The young guns are contributing too!!
.We should no doubt have a hard look at ourselves, but you can't forget any player's contribution overnight by the outcome of this world cup...Have your opinion but don't get biased by the report from media. Learn to face the truth but at the same time acknowledge that the team can do wonders if we have taken certain measures earlier on. I still don't think we have to be like Aussies. They have their own style, we have ours. It's not question about who is right or wrong, but cricket can gain a lot if we have our ways.

However I think BCCI did a good job of helping the guys to focus in cricket and remove all other distractions that crippled Indian cricket in a way. India will fight back trust me on that sanjay..They have more potential what you or other Aussie fan might believe...

First clense the BCCI of the handicapped officials, then pray that Shastri does not resign
immediately after the Bangladesh tour and maybe you will find a winning team in time for the next world cup - Meanwhile I suggest that you send all the present Team India shirts to the Red Cross for distribution to an african nation that does not know about Cricket !!! (there must be over a Billion)

To all of you who have climed that Australia didn't sack players when they were in poor form and quoted examples of Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh, & Mat Hayden etc. You have miised the biggest point! There is a dictum in Australia, which people in India, may or may not know which goes "Never change a winning team." This is the main reason that people like Taylor, Waugh & Hayden were given the chances that they were given at the respective times. Australia at those times that people are using as examples were still winning games and as such, could afford to show some leniency to out of form players. Compare this to India. The only place that India conistently wins is in India! That is because they continue to prepare pitches that take prodigious spin on day one and get progressively worse (that is they take more and more spin and become an absolute disgrace to bat on) in the following days.

I remember reading articles in the last two to three years where respected journalists in India argued the case for preparing pitches that were more in line with pitches in other parts of the world, like SA, England and Aus. Pitches that had bounce and pace for a few days and then took spin towards the end of the match. I was very surprised to see none other that Suni Gavaskar (who, as an oening batsman, like me, was a hero of mine, even though I am an Aussie) arguing against producing anything other than a "traditional Indian pitch". Attitudes like this espoused by Sunny which hold India's progress back, will cause India to continue to be viewed as a tiger at home and a kitten elsewhere. The point I want to make here is that a winning team can afford a little extra indulgence of out of form players but a tream like India who claim to be world beaters at home but perform poorly elsewhere in the world are firstly deluding themseles of the extent of their ability to begin with and secondly, they, as losers away from home, do not have the same luxury afforded to a team like Australia, who have made a habbit of winning in most, if not all, of the countries in the cricket playing world. If yo want to compare apples with apples, have a look at what Australia did n England in 2005 when it lost the Ashes. Out of the team went Martin, Gillespie, Kasprowicz and Hayden was on his last chance in the last test and survivred only by going back to basics and scoring a century. Clarke wasalso dropped in te following year. Why? you might ask. The answer is that the Austrlian team lost the ashes and was no longer a winner! Changes were made and players who lost their position had to work very hard to get them back, and some of the bowlers haven't got bck in yet.

All of you Indian fans who argue the Taylor Waugh type arguments, please stop to smell the roses. Don't compare your team to Australia's winning teams, instead, compare your team to Australia's Ashes LOSING team then comment on what changes should be made to your team.

Other wise, you, like Sunny, will continue to delude yourselves unfortunately to yopur own detriment. You need fundamental change. For the sake of your cricket, please make sure you get it?

Any bets Shastri will not stay for longer than the B/Desh tour and will never ever come anywhere near the team after that tour. Write this down in Gold and keep it in a Bank. Indians will be Indians even if a God comes down to coach them.
Sorry Ravi this does not mean that you are any less accomplished.

The coverup of the world cup fiasco has been perfect. Greg gives the report the board wants, Greg is offered advisory role and things can continue as they were before. Holy cows will continue on the strength of their performance a few years back and once in a while perform against the weak teams on home soil justifying their place in the team for many more matches.

Greg's failure is not to understand that there are holy cows team and Indians cannot accept the meritocracy.

Greg Chappel always irritated me. Process is good but it has to be understood in the Indian context of success and genius of individuals. Chappel could never get it-good riddance to this rubbish. In the Indian context, personal freedom is everything as it should be. Chappel and his protege Dravid have no clue how to harness this unique greatness. Dravid is too obstinate and unidirectional to be wise (but he does bring personal discipline to the table). The Vengasarkars like many older South Indians have a simplistic belief (often well placed and safe) in the western success models and have little or no clue on undestanding that processes which lead to success are different for Indians compared to any other people except perhaps the West Indians. I also find it replusive that Gangauly is the focus of Mr. Vengsarkars focus when it should be the failed young leaders like Dravid instead who should be trained in Indian Management systems not in techniques which won colonial wars for western Generals.

Looking at in anyway ...... totally unbiased.... One could only come to a conclusion that Greg Chappell was a egoistic person who would never make a good coach. He wasn't successful.. and not even popular in his own South Australia ... He was brought in to take Indian Cricket a few years ahead ... and all he did was take it a few years back. What we need is a person like John Wright ! He was a real charm...... !

The main culprit is the Board and the way it's run and it's corrupt officianados ..... Niranjan Shah, Rajeev Shukla .... We have been reading and hearing these names since we could remember. New people who could be made accountable is the need of the hour, not just fighting in these "Blogs" about who is right or who is wrong....

Cleanse the Board of all these people and bring in people who "work" for Indian Cricket and not just hold honorary posts and there certainly would be improvement one way or the other !