The Chappells Speak

I don't understand why such hue and cry over what the Chappells have spoken? Are our cricketers some holy cow that they can do no wrong? This is my take on what both the Chappells have spoken.

Greg - Yes, I do agree that he has failed as a coach and there can be no excuses about that but why is the entire country up in arms when he says that the deniors in the team are to be blamed? Is it that Indians don't indulge in team politics or is it that we are so blinded by our paper tiger heroes that we feel they are a bundle of virtues and no vices. Why is it not possible that Ganguly would have indulged in groupism and waywardness to score a point over Dravid and to have one more shot at captaincy? Why is it hard to believe that Sehwag out of his insecurity would have really played a traunt with the younger players? Same thing with other players. Do we expect our cricketers to be super human and not have common vices like greed, envy, insecurity? Or is it easier to attack Greg just because he is not an Indian?

When we take potshots at Greg, we forget that he possibly knows more about cricket than most of our heroes (except maybe Sachin and Kumble).. Don't forget that he was as astutue cricket mind and a great batsman considered at par with Gavaskar and Richards in the 70s and 80s. Do we all forget how it was Greg who helped Ganguly out of a wretched period in 2003 with tips on batting and how to face Aussies in Aussieland. And when that helped, we thought Greg was a reasonable man with his love for cricket at the right place. Now he is a devil... Interesting, isn't it?

Ian - So finally someone had the guts to say the obvious and that is - Sachin is visibly tired and needs to reduce the pressure of expectations. He seems to be playing neither for the country nor for himself (maybe for the moolahs and the ad men). And Ian said the obvious. Is Sachin the first person, Ian has been honest and blunt with? No.. Bradman, Steve Waugh and Mark Taylor to name a few have been at receiving end of his blunt speech.

But we take it as a national insult and question Ian's assessment and understanding of cricket. Hahahahahaha.... Time to grow up and smell the coffee. Our heroes are human beings too and like all human beings, they will fail sometime and they too will fade away. High time, we accept that Sachin needs to really start planning his post-retirement plans. And high time, he works on it before even his ardent fans start hating him.