Sourav-Chappell saga

Its very unfortunate that Ganguly chose to go public about his internal squabbles. Personally, I have a lot of respect for Ganguly and what he has done for India cricket. Unfortunately, it appears as though he is going through the same crisis faced by most India sportsman (politicians included) about when to call it quits. Of all the Indian cricketers, I think Sunil Gavaskar is the only one who went out on his own terms. Pretty much every India top star has been dragged out at the end of his career: Kapil Dev, Vishwanath, Vengsarkar, Bedi, etc.

In the case of Ganguly, I think the intense pressure just got to him. He probably knows that his days in the team and as captain are numbered for many reasons possibly even beyond his performance. So he proably thought that with a century behind him he could build up some support!

The commission scheduled to meet later this month includes Gavaskar, Shastri, Venkataraghavan, Chappell and R. S Mahendra (the Board President). While Mahendra has past scores to settle, Chappell has his reputation at stake and will do whatever it takes to build Team India. The others are tough task masters and will feel the onus of setting the direction for the Indian team for the years to come. In short, it a pseudo selection committee where the stakes are high. Its good to know that Chappell is trying to clean house and I hope he succeeds. I still think Ganguly is a good captain, but it appears as though the standards set by Chappell are a little too much for him. If this is true he must go.