Full text of Chapell's email to BCCI Chief
Chappell's e-mail to the BCCI chief
September 25, 2005 12:12 IST
Full text of India cricket team coach Greg Chappell's
e-mail to Board of
Control for Cricket in India president Ranbir Singh
Mahendra, courtesy DNA,
India TV
Due to comments made by Mr Sourav Ganguly during the
press conference
following his innings in the recently completed Test
match in Bulawayo and
the subsequent media speculation I would like to make
my position clear on
two points.
1. At no stage did I ask Mr Ganguly to step down from
the captaincy of the
Indian team and;
2. At no stage have I threatened to resign my position
as Indian team coach.
Mr Ganguly came to me following the recently completed
tri-series of one-day
matches here in Zimbabwe and asked me to tell him
honestly where he stood as
a player in my view. I told him that I thought he was
struggling as a player
and that it was affecting his ability to lead the team
effectively and that
the pressure of captaincy was affecting his ability to
play to his
potential. I also told him that his state of mind was
fragile and it showed
in the way that he made decisions on and off the field
in relation to the
team, especially team selection. A number of times
during the tri-series the
tour selectors had chosen a team and announced it to
the group only for
Sourav to change his mind on the morning of the game
and want to change the
team.
On at least one occasion he did change the team and on
the morning of the
final I had to talk him out of making another
last-minute change that I
believe would have destroyed team morale and damaged
the mental state of the
individuals concerned. I also told Sourav that his
nervous state was
affecting the team in other ways as he was prone to
panic during pressure
situations in games and that his nervous demeanour was
putting undue
pressure on the rest of the team. His nervous pacing
of the rooms during our
batting in the final plus his desire to change the
batting order during our
innings in the final had also contributed to
nervousness in the players
waiting to go in to bat. His reluctance to bat first
in games I suggested
was also giving wrong signals to the team and the
opposition and his
nervousness at the crease facing bowlers like Shane
Bond from NZ was also
affecting morale in the dressing room.
On the basis of this and other observations and
comments from players in the
squad about the unsettling effect Sourav was having on
the group I suggested
to Sourav that he should consider stepping down from
the captaincy at the
end of the tour in the interests of the team and in
his own best interests
if he wanted to prolong his playing career. I told him
of my own experiences
toward the end of my career and cited other players
such as Border, Taylor
and Steve Waugh, all of whom struggled with batting
form toward the end of
their tenure as Australian captain.
We discussed other issues in relation to captaincy and
the time and effort
it took that was eating into his mental reserves and
making it difficult to
prepare properly for batting in games. He commented
that he had enjoyed
being free of those responsibilities in the time that
he was in Sri Lanka
following his ban from international cricket and that
he would consider my
suggestion.
I also raised the matter of selection for the first
Test with Sourav and
asked him where he thought he should bat. He said
'number 5'. I told him
that he might like to consider opening in the Test as
the middle order was
going to be a tight battle with Kaif and Yuvraj
demanding selection. Sourav
asked me if I was serious. I said it was something to
be considered, but it
had to be his decision.
The following day Sourav batted in the match against
Zimbabwe 'A' team in
the game in Mutare. I am not sure of the exact timing
of events because I
was in the nets with other players when Sourav went in
to bat, but the new
ball had either just been taken or was imminent when I
saw Sourav walking
from the field holding his right arm. I assumed he had
been hit and made my
way to the players' area where Sourav was receiving
treatment from the team
physiotherapist, John Gloster.
When I enquired as to what had happened Sourav said he
had felt a click in
his elbow as he played a ball through the leg side and
that he thought he
should have it investigated. Sourav had complained of
pain to his elbow at
various stages of the one-day series, but he had
resisted having any
comprehensive investigation done and, from my
observation, had been
spasmodic in his treatment habits, often not using
ice-packs for the arm
that had been prepared for him by John Gloster. I
suggested, as had John
Gloster, that we get some further tests done
immediately. Sourav rejected
these suggestions and said he would be 'fine'. When I
queried what he meant
by 'fine' he said he would be fit for the Test match.
I then queried why
then was it necessary to be off the field now. He said
that he was just
taking 'precautions'.
Rather than make a scene with other players and
officials in the vicinity I
decided to leave the matter and observe what Sourav
would do from that point
on. After the loss of Kaif, Yuvraj and Karthik to the
new ball, Sourav
returned to the crease with the ball now around 20
overs old. He struggled
for runs against a modest attack and eventually threw
his wicket away trying
to hit one of the spinners over the leg side.
The next day I enquired with a number of the players
as to what they had
thought of Sourav's retirement. The universal response
was that it was 'just
Sourav' as they recounted a list of times when Sourav
had suffered from
mystery injuries that usually disappeared as quickly
as they had come. This
disturbed me because it confirmed for me that he was
in a fragile state of
mind and it was affecting the mental state of other
members of the squad.
When we arrived in Bulawayo I decided I needed to ask
Sourav if he had
over-played the injury to avoid the danger period of
the new ball as it had
appeared to me and others within the touring party
that he had protected
himself at the expense of others. He denied the
suggestion and asked why he
would do that against such a modest attack. I said
that he was the only one
who could answer that question.
I was so concerned about the affect that Sourav's
actions were having on the
team that I decided I could not wait until selection
meeting that evening to
inform him that I had serious doubts about picking him
for the first Test.
I explained that, in my view, I felt we had to pick
Kaif and Yuvraj
following their good form in the one-day series and
that Sehwag, Gambhir,
Laxman and Dravid had to play. He said that his record
was better than Kaif
and Yuvraj and that they had not proved themselves in
Test cricket. I
countered with the argument that they had to be given
a chance to prove
themselves on a consistent basis or we would never
know. I also said that
their form demanded that they be selected now.
Sourav asked me whether I thought he should be captain
of the team. I said
that I had serious doubts that he was in the right
frame of mind to do it.
He asked me if I thought he should step down. I said
that it was not my
decision to make, that only he could make that
decision, but if he did make
that decision he had to do it in the right manner or
it would have even more
detrimental effects than if he didn't stand down. I
said that now was not
the time to make the decision but that we should
discuss it at the selection
meeting to be held later in the day.
Sourav then said that if I didn't want him to be
captain that he would
inform Rahul Dravid that was going to stand down. I
reiterated that it was
not my decision to make but he should give it due
consideration under the
circumstances but not to do it hastily. At that point
Sourav went to Rahul
and the two of them conferred briefly and then Sourav
left the field and
entered the dressing room. At that stage I joined the
start of the training
session.
A short time later Mr Chowdhary came on to the field
and informed me that
Sourav had told him that I did not want him as captain
and that Sourav
wanted to leave Zimbabwe immediately if he wasn't
playing. I then joined Mr
Chowdhary and Rahul Dravid in the dressing room where
we agreed that this
was not the outcome that any of us wanted and that the
ramifications would
not be in the best interests of the team.
We then spent some time with Sourav and eventually
convinced him that he
should stay on as captain for the two Tests and then
consider his future. In
my view it was not an ideal solution but it was better
than the alternative
of him leaving on a bad note. I believe he has earned
the right to leave in
a fitting manner. We all agreed that this was a matter
that should stay
between us and should not, under any circumstances, be
discussed with the
media.
The matter remained quiet until the press conference
after the game when a
journalist asked Sourav if he had been asked to step
down before the Test.
Sourav replied that he had but he did not want to
elaborate and make an
issue of it. I was then called to the press conference
where I was asked if
I knew anything of Sourav being asked to step down
before the game. I
replied that a number of issues had been raised
regarding selection but as
they were selection matters I did not wish to make any
further comment.
Apart from a brief interview on ESPN before which I
emphasized that I did
not wish to discuss the issue because it was a
selection matter I have
resisted all other media approaches on the matter.
Since then various reports have surfaced that I had
threatened to resign. I
do not know where that rumour has come from because I
have spoken to no one
in regard to this because I have no intention of
resigning. I assume that
some sections of the media, being starved of
information, have made up their
own stories.
At the completion of the Test match I was approached
by VVS Laxman with a
complaint that Sourav had approached him on the eve of
the Test saying that
I had told Sourav that I did not want Laxman in the
team for Test matches. I
denied that I had made such a remark to Sourav, or
anybody else for that
matter, as, on the contrary, I saw Laxman as an
integral part of the team.
He asked how Sourav could have said what he did. I
said that the only way we
could go to the bottom of the matter was to speak to
Sourav and have him
repeat the allegation in front of me.
I arranged for a meeting with the two of them that
afternoon. The meeting
took place just after 6pm in my room at the Rainbow
Hotel in Bulawayo. I
told Sourav that Laxman had come to me complaining
that Sourav had made some
comments to Laxman prior to the Test. I asked Sourav
if he would care to
repeat the comment in my presence. Sourav then rambled
on about how I had
told him that I did not see a place for Laxman in
one-day cricket, something
that I had discussed with Sourav and the selection
panel and about which I
had spoken to Laxman at the end of the Sri Lankan
tour.
Sourav mentioned nothing about the alleged
conversation regarding Laxman and
Test cricket even when I pushed him on it later in the
discussion. As we had
to leave for a team function we ended the conversation
without Sourav
adequately explaining his comments to Laxman.
Again, this is not an isolated incident because I have
had other players
come to me regarding comments that Sourav had made to
them that purports to
be comments from me to Sourav about the particular
player. In each case the
comments that Sourav has passed on to the individual
are figments of
Sourav's imagination. One can only assume that he does
it to unnerve the
individual who, in each case, has been a middle order
batsman.
Sourav has missed the point of my discussions with him
on this matter. It
has less to do with his form than it does with his
attitude toward the team.
Everything he does is designed to maximise his chance
of success and is
usually detrimental to someone else's chances.
Despite meeting with him in Mumbai after his
appointment as captain and
speaking with him about these matters and his
reluctance to do the
preparation and training that is expected of everyone
else in the squad he
continues to set a bad example.
Greg King's training reports continue to show Sourav
as the person who does
the least fitness and training work based on the
criterion that has been
developed by the support staff to monitor the work
load of all the players.
We have also developed parameters of batting, bowling,
fielding and
captaincy that we believe embodies the 'Commitment to
Excellence' theme that
I espoused at my interview and Sourav falls well below
the acceptable level
in all areas. I will be pleased to present this
documentation when I meet
with the special committee in Mumbai later this month.
I can assure you sir that all my actions in this
matter, and all others
since my appointment, have been with the aim of
improving the team
performance toward developing a team that will
represent India with
distinctions in Test match and one-day cricket.
As I said to you during our meeting in Colombo, I have
serious reservations
about the attitude of some players and about Sourav
and his ability to take
this team to a new high, and none of the things he has
done since his
reappointment has caused me to change my view. In
fact, it has only served
to confirm that it is time for him to move on and let
someone else build
their team toward the 2007 World Cup.
This team has been made to be fearful and distrusting
by the rumour
mongering and deceit that is Sourav's modus operandi
of divide and rule.
Certain players have been treated with favour, all of
them bowlers, while
others have been shunted up and down the order or left
out of the team to
suit Sourav's whims.
John Wright obviously allowed this to go on to the
detriment of the team. I
am not prepared to sit back and allow this to continue
or we will get the
same results we have been seeing for some time now.
It is time that all players were treated with fairness
and equity and that
good behaviours and attitudes are rewarded at the
selection table rather
than punished.
I can assure you of my very best intentions.
Yours sincerely,
Greg Chappell MBE
posted by vk at 8:39 PM
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