Chappell makes peace with Ganguly

CHENNAI (India)—India’s cricket Coach Greg Chappell drew the curtain on the unsavoury row with Sourav Ganguly, saying the spat was history. “We have moved on. The drama that surrounded the episode was much greater than actually was the case,” Chappell said in an interview here on Wednesday after the drawn first Test against Sri Lanka.
Chappell and Ganguly clashed in September when the coach slammed the country’s most successful captain as being “unfit to lead the side” in a leaked e-mail to Indian cricket chiefs.
A truce was brokered between the two but Ganguly was replaced as captain by Rahul Dravid and also sacked from the one-day side for matches against Sri Lanka and South Africa.
The left-hander won a narrow 3-2 verdict by the selectors to remain in the Test squad, but lasted just 24 deliveries in the rain-ravaged Chennai Test where he ran out Venkatsai Laxman before being dismissed for five.
Ganguly goes into the second Test starting in New Delhi on Saturday knowing only a big score will prolong his international career.
Chappell refused to read too much into Ganguly’s failure in the first Test, saying: “I would not make much of it. What can I say? The whole team made only 167 runs”.
The former Australian captain, who took over as Indian coach in June for a two-year term, said the showdown with Ganguly was not an issue anymore — as long as he was performing.
“One thing I have learnt about life is that forget the past, but do not forget the lesson you learn from it,” said Chappell.
“He (Ganguly) wants to play cricket for India. I want to be a good coach. And I want to be the coach of a good Indian team.
“But for that to happen, you need to have the group that blends well.
“It’s not about Sourav. It’s about Indian cricket and how it goes forward. He is as much a part of the team as anyone else. The only thing that is important in this whole exercise is performance”.
Chappell also took a swipe at former selector Yashpal Sharma for suggesting the coach was targetting players like Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan because he did not get along with them. “I don’t have that much clout,” he said. “All I can say is that Yashpal doesn’t really understand what is going on.
“I don’t want to get sidetracked. I don’t want to get involved in a slanging match. He is frustrated that he lost a job which he obviously wanted to keep.
“I had no part in him losing his job, but he had to take it out on someone”.
Sharma and two other known Ganguly supporters, Pranob Roy and Gopal Sharma, were sacked from the selection committee last week after political heavyweight Sharad Pawar wrested control of the cricket board from Jagmohan Dalmiya.
Chappell said he had no problems with the Indian system where the coach and captain do not have a vote in selection meetings — as long as their views were taken seriously.
“I have always had a belief that the coach and captain should have a greater say in selections,” he said. “Whether that means a vote or not depends upon the kind of system that each place has.
“At least right now the selectors are listening to what we have to say and if that happens, I am fine with the current arrangement”.—Agencies