4 years back, India reached the final of world cup. Our players were heros. The team was one and only one: team India.
After 4 years, the team made an exit at 1st round. The same players are now 'mafias'. The team, it is said, is divided into groups. What had happened in between?
Well, one thing I know: Greg Chappell.
Why is he responsible for sloppy reflex of Sachin or slow feet of Saurav? Well, that's a lame excuse. World cup loss is not THE THING. It is just ONE OF THE THINGS. India, under full control of Chappell, had made exits in 1st round of Champion's trophy and DLF cup and also lost miserably in W. Indies and S. Africa. Saurav was not present, sometimes Sachin was also not present and Chappell's fleet-footed boy Raina WAS PRESENT. But that didn't stop disaster.
If one wants to write about sins of Chappell, it needs a book. Let me tell one: he unnecessarily made an artificial issue of senior vs. junior. The net result was the humiliation and demoralisation of the seniors and the sense of insecurity among the juniors.
His call for "young blood" was basically a hoax. For all the noise about "old feet" in world cup, Indian team was younger than Australia, New Zeland, South Africa and Sri Lanka both in terms of average age and no. of 30 plus players. The only team above India in ICC ODI rating that is younger is Pakistan and they did even worse! This only shows that no team of worth just cry hoarse about "young legs". Rather, they take the best, young and old, and the coach then train them to best possible fitness. Moody did that with two more 30 pluses than us. He even made Murli an acceptable fielder.
And for all the 'sloppiness', it's the seniors who are performing for India. E.g., in last 10 innings, averages of Saurav is 56, Sachin 45, Rahul 53, Dhoni 46, Yuvraj 38, Sehwag 42 and these are the ones who played. Only 'flop' may be Uthappa, the youngest pick, with 29. Among those who didn't play but could, avearge (in last 10)of Raina is 15, Kaif 23, Karthik 19, Powar 14, Pathan 18, Venu 23, Gambhir 20 and Laxman 26. Do you think they could do better?
It's not good enough to shout slogan, the coach has responsibility to GROOM young players. Chappell ggroomed few (say, Munaf, Sree), DOOMED much more (sehwag, kaif, Pathan, Raina). And all by his divisive politics.
Indian seniors have good track record. Above stats show that even now they are performers. On the other hand, Chappell has NO SUCCESS AS YET AS COACH! He talked a lot about process, but in practice has managed to dismantle all processes and the team itself!
And if he is not responsible for ANYTHING, it's the players, well, we can then appoint Boycott's mom as coach. That will save BCCI at least Rs. 5 crores a year.
