John Wright is genial, soft spoken, a benign older brother. As India's cricket coach, he was focused on his brief. He was committed to the goal of India achieving cricketing glory and he delivered on his commitment by taking India to the final of the last World Cup. John, as Ganguly would often fondly refer to him when talking to media persons, appeared to love every bit of the aggressive tactics of Ganguly on the field. He allowed Ganguly to take most of the credit for whatever the team achieved, though in his part of the world, football and rugby are the most popular sports and you know what a coach in these sports are like.(Witness the unceremonious ouster of the superstar David Beckham!) It was a great honeymoon and together, they took Indian cricket to dizzying heights. But, John was very upset about the uncertainty over his own continuance as India's coach and he faced embarrassing moments when the question was discussed in the international media during the last World Cup. It looked like Ganguly held the key to his future as India's coach and that seemed to hurt him. The honeymoon soured. John proposed, though feebly, that Dravid would make a better captain. And his batting prowess was on his side. (It is another matter that Tendulkar, the greatest cricketer we have ever produced, didn't make a great captain.) But, Ganguly would stick to his job even after John Wright exited as coach.
John Wright knew Ganguly's mind and how he kept his boys together. He knew who Ganguly's favourites were. So, John gave a briefing to Greg Chappell when he took over as coach. Greg Chappell's agenda was clear. Ganguly had to be thrown out and his buddies kept at a distance. Zaheer and Mongia were ignored for a longtime and Nehra is still languishing in wilderness. Sehwag and Yuvraj, accomplished opening and one-down bats respectively, were pushed down the order where they didn't have many overs to play and one can be sure that it is not Greg's case even, that it would boost their confidence. Harbhajan has been and will always be a suspect, with Greg at the helm.
Ganguly ruffled too many feathers when he was the captain. He had the guts to dish out verbal volleys to the Australians as good as he got, the last time he toured with the team. Even when the media tried to bother him with a question on Harbhajan's bowling action, he retorted anyone can say anything and what had they to say if he found McGrath's action faulty? Ganguly settled at the first opportunity what is otherwise a customary exercise for the senior citizens like McGrath and Warne, and of course, the Australian media -- to bat the touring side out of it all even before they entered the playing ground. Ganguly's boys imbibed it from him and put up a great show with bat, ball, and the verbal volleys. Why are we discussing all this now when we should be bothering ourselves about the apparent cause of our recent string of poor performances including at World Cup? The bottom line is Greg's focus has not been on winning matches but on keeping Ganguly and his cronies out of bounds. He has now added Tendulkar to the list! He is very fond of experimenting but with no success. Zaheers and Mongias come back at him regularly.
Fortunately for Greg, he had everyone in Indian cricket eating out of his hands. Ganguly himself started it all by rooting for Greg (melted by the multiple calls he got from Greg in an hour on the morning of the selection committee meeting that interviewed Chappell) against whatever sane advice Gavaskar gave him or didn't give him. Ganguly's own form didn't do him any good turn. The stage was set and Ganguly quickly dug his own grave.The rest, as the cliche goes, is history. But it will take an accomplished psychoanalyst to fathom Greg's mind. Is he arrogant and over-confident as he generally comes across or is he plain paranoid about Ganguly coming back into the team and challenging his authority? But, as bystanders, you and I can definitely say that Mr Wright got it all wrong and has undone all the good that he did to Indian cricket during his tenure as coach. Amen.
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