Me and some other cricket fans (read, those who are not concerned about Tendulkar's revenue) have been saying over and over again in rediff message boards that if it is anybody who has to take the maximum responsibility for this debacle it has to be Mr. Greg Chappell.
We feel vindicated now that one of the high priests of Indian cricket has echoed a similar view. Chappell was a cunning man who has exploited the one-down view of spineless people like More and Pawar and has run the team like an anarchist on the loose.
Alas, the great fans of Indian cricket are not sagacious enough even to consider Greg as a possible reason for this failure. Everything negative thing had to do with Tendulkar's endorsements and thats the sole reason for our exit. It is this myopic and maniac view prevalent among the Indian fans that chappell used to his advantage and took the back-door like a coward.
See, when he took over the team had just challenged Australia in their own back-yard and won after decades of sore losing in Pakistan and was brimming with talent, Irfan, Balaji, Yuvraj, Kaif lending great support to Dravid, Tendulkar, and Ganguly and as these three were staring down the end of their careers time just seemed to be right for a glorious world cup. Enter Greg Chappell and everything fell down to pieces all the great work was undone. Every player who seemed to be coming along nicely was taken to the cleaners, seniors realized that their place was under threat because of this cunning coach who wears different hats depending upon the people whom he is talking to (media, players, ex-players, ...) and everything came to a ruin.
Sunny, the only thing I feel bad about your statements is the timing. You should have come out and called the cowards out in public as soon as the debacle than waiting the selectors and that cunning man beat the escape route in the public hysteria surrounding the loss. All said this is the best statement coming out of Indian cricket in a while. Thanks for your support to our team.
