Angry Chappell compromises team unity

By Anil
September 16 2005

Ever since Greg Chappell made his much-heralded entry as coach to Indian team, he has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Just what role is Chappell playing -- coach or angry old man?

Recent headlines on Greg Chappell have been disappointing, even if you ignore the fact that under him the team's ODI performance has taken a distinct turn southwards:

Chappell furious over team indiscipline
Chappell unhappy with BCCI arrangements
Chappell angry with team members for late arrival
Chappell complains to BCCI about 3 team members
Chappell livid over Indian media and photographer conduct
Chappell walks out of press conference

Much of what we hear about India's Aussie coach, ever since he joined the Indian team and led them to two inglorious ODI series defeats, is his fury over all things Indian.

Unlike John Wright, the gracious and diplomatic Kiwi ex-cricketer who coached India for four years before Chappell, Greg has been unable to contain his outbursts on a variety of issues that he is being paid some very big bucks to resolve in an amicable manner.

Away from the eyes of media, Chappell has been churning up tensions within the team that increasingly make it look like a disjoint team, in stark contrast to the unified group built up by captain Sourav Ganguly for the last five years.

Constant complaints to the BCCI about the team, and a now familiar sourpuss look at most press conferences, are doing him no good. Nor is his lack of man-management skills helping to build team spirit.

The latest revelation by Indian media that Chappell pressured Ganguly to step down on the eve of the first Test of a series for which he was appointed captain may be the last straw.

As coach, Chappell is not authorized to change the team captain mid-stream and as a long-time veteran in cricket he should have been well aware of that. That is the prerogative of the BCCI's selection committee, as chairman of selectors Kiran More has re-iterated after the news broke.

Thus far, Chappell's game strategies, experimentation with batting order, training methods, and public demeanor have left much to be desired. There have been whispers from senior team members that he talks far too much and spends undue time on psycho-babble such as De Bono methods in place of needed cricketing practice. He demoralizes the team with army tactics, such as forcing them to practise tough running drills right after a whole day of cricket during a 3-day tour match.

However, it is his dressing-room demeanor that will see him exit the Indian team more likely than not.

A pretty 20-minute presentation does not a coach make. BCCI selected him as coach after seeing some ambitious powerpoint bullets, but Mohinder Amarnath may have been right after all: a foreign ex-cricketer with a difficult accent who has never played in India may not have the background to communicate with our cricketers or do effective team-building. Steve Waugh had also warned that Chappell may be too old and out-of-touch at 57 to coach an international team and that 39-year old Tom Moody would be a better fit for India, more tuned to today than yesterday.

The Indian team and fans are rallying around Ganguly after his fighting century, and public resentment against Chappell is running high.

Time is fast running out on Chappell. If Venugopal Rao can lose his place in the squad after two failed series, there is no reason why a very highly-paid coach should not come under the scanner.

A coach who now has a track record of bringing discord and disunity to the team will find there is no place for him unless he can make amends quickly, and perhaps more importantly, learn how to fit into a very different culture than the one he grew up in.

Perhaps Chappell would be best off flying over to New Zealand after the current series to get a quick primer on this aspect from his predecessor.