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The BCCI hired Greg Chappell to bring us success and may be to bring in some of Australia’s magic formula in Indian cricket. How far is the coach responsible for the team’s performance? I believe he has a major responsibility — the only way to stay ahead of the game is to prepare a step ahead and that’s what the coach is for.

As a strategist Chappell is considered one of the best. But the saying, ‘a captain is only as good as his team’ applies equally to the coach. At junior level, a good coach will crucially instil into his pupils a good work ethic; he will also correct potentially crippling flaws in technique. At international level, technique usually needs only fine-tuning, so the coach’s main job is to methodically analyse and interpret data obtained from actual match situations. During Chappell’s tenure, out of 30 ODIs, India won only 13.

Chappell says that he is answerable only to BCCI. Wrong — he is answerable to the entire nation. He should organise the team preparation and help individuals to grow as people as well as develop as cricketers. In his article “Change Cricket’s Coaching Model”, he gave an example of John Buchanan that “John Buchanan, for instance, has not taught any of the Australian players how to play but he has helped them to develop as individuals and he has played a big part in the development of the group”. If he believes in team development, then why has there been a lack of development in Indian cricket during his tenure? In fact in his nutshell the team has reached to this great stage that we can’t even beat Holland or Kenya for that matter.

Another bone of contention has been in the selection of captain. The selection panel failed to understand Rahul Dravid’s inability to lead. I believe he is a complete failure as skipper. A good batsman needs not to be a good captain. The captain of a cricket team is a player who, during the course of a match, has several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player. Dravid has failed in this and other respects.

Beyond seven wonders more wonders are in India. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is the President of BCCI, thus making India the only country in the world where a politician is in charge of cricket. One of the critical reasons why politics has vitiated our cricket and the players is the archaic zonal selection system, but this selection system based on nepotism doest not work. Perhaps in no other country do zonal considerations are a factor in selecting the national squad. Added to this there has been always the constant chopping and changing the Indian team. It is well known that Chappell has been making too many experiments, sometimes even at the cost of the team’s performance. But the BCCI has chosen not to interfere with Chappell’s methods. In the end, how can a player feel confident if the fabric of the team is disturbed every now and then? It just goes to show that this Indian team is on edge and the players are very insecure about their future. Due to this the all-consuming hunger to win seems to be missing in the current lot. Consistency has always been a thorn in India’s flesh. A few wins here and there, some sparkling individual performances don’t make for a world class side. A team needs to win international matches as a habit to be taken seriously by its rivals. Moreover, there is a complete lack of recognition of state players which is indeed one of the main reasons which prevent India from being the best cricket team in the world. We’ve a bunch of gifted young and experienced players, but let me reiterate that there is no substitute for collective performance when it comes to a team sport like cricket.

After the World Cup humiliation, the BCCI should select team players based on merit and not on their past records. In short, if selectors go by name and popularity of the cricketers and fail to encourage first-class cricket, results similar to those in the World Cup are bound to happen again.