Playing for Brother Greg

Ian Chappell's article hosted on Cricinfo is full of one-dimensional views in support of brother Greg.

Read his full article at: http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/extracover/content/current/story/288909.html

"Greg would accept it as part of his job to challenge the him to resurrect his batting in order to help India win matches."

Sachin does not need Greg to challenge him, for him to know that he has to improve. Greg was poking his nose in everybody and was too tough and unrelenting. Nobody can give his best with Damocles' sword hanging.

Talking of Greg's processes and stress on youth, he could not make any youngster count. Kaif, Raina both were dismal failures and had already been given extended run coz of Chappell's single-dimension view.

"There is no point in trying to be like an Indian when you've been employed because of your knowledge and experience as an Australian cricketer"

- What an inflammatory comment from Ian Chappell ! He is debasing the Indians here. No process and knowledge can be blindly applied without suitably tailoring it to the people around you. And Greg had rubbed most players wrongly. How can anybody embrace a person's knowledge and processes when he does not have basic man-management skill ? How can you take "gyan" from a person who is constantly questioning your attitude and is trying to find fault with you. A person hell-bent on finding fault will find fault with almost anything and everything.

A coach's job is to find out what works with his players. He cannot come with a pre-determined mindset without understanding the Indian psyche and culture.

"That is not questioning a player's attitude, that is called striving for improvement."

Wow !! What a fantastic play of words ! Greg has explicitly questioned player's attitudes and even called them mafia. He has constantly made public announcements of what should have been kept till the dressing room. As soon as he took over Indian cricket, he commented that Sachin will never be his destructive self again. Imagine, even if that is true, how it will play on the player's mind that they cannot share anything with coach for fear of the coach making it public.

The worse was to come later. In West Indies, Greg publicly announced that Irfan Pathan had lost his confidence. He was criticised even by the respected Wasim Akram that he would never have done this with his players, as it would undermine a player's self belief.

This Indian team - these are more or less the same players who reached the 2003 finals, without so-called Aussie wisdom that Greg Chappell brought, right ?

Greg has been a divisive force, and brought a lot of negative energy with him. As they say, one stinking fish rots the entire well !!.