You don`t say!
It is not often that I feel sorry for the Board of Cricket Control in
The two are quarrelling like alley cats now and the Board is caught in the middle. So what should it do? As can be expected, it is not lacking for direction because the leader writers have been busy.
The first off the mark was the Indian Express. Its headline said it all: Saurav must go.
The Board, it said had "been witness to many scandals; continuing with Ganguly would be another. He must go, not merely because of Chappell`s e-mail, or a falling average, or one run-in too many with authority, or for violating the basic ethic of team sport: making public dressing-room disputes. He must go because Indian cricket needs a change." Having shown the Prince of Kolkata the door, it went on to sing his praises. Marvellous leader, great batsman, superb leadership and so on. But, if I may distort a saying, every dog has its day and Saurav, it said, had had his. So go.
It then took an irritated swipe at the Board accusing it of being "a shamefully indifferent administration. And the common root cause is money. It is money that has DIVided a team that once inspired us all by its sheer patriotism. And it is money — in terms of the easy, and immense, revenue generated from television rights — that has blinded the BCCI to its other responsibilities. The time has come to sort out at least one of those problems."
The Hindustan Times also said the same things. If the choice was between Saurav and Chappell, it was Saurav that would have to go. It was very catty about it, too. "
Then it got nastier still. "Ganguly`s litany of woes consists of one long whine." Then it made the substantive point, namely, that it was "never so much Ganguly the batsman who parted the sea and led the Indian team through the glorious period…the credit for that goes to Ganguly the captain. That Ganguly has been in retirement for a year now." It then went on to say it was wrong to suggest that a foreigner knows nothing about
Bur forget the leader writers on a Sunday with nothing better to do. The cricketers were also DIVided.
"The job of a coach carries enormous responsibility. In Chappell`s case more so because he has been hired to reconstruct the team before the World Cup. He should be an integral part of the selection committee and his words need to be given due consideration."
Many others sounded off to the TV channels over the weekend, taking this side or the other. It was left to the Business Standard, which took a strictly managerial view, to settle the issue. A pox on both of them, it said. Send both packing.