Partnership, Did You Say?

***

***

f it were a film unit at work, you could say a fracas between thelead actor and the director has creative possibilities. In politics, of course, inner-party spats that tumble out into the open are like oxygen for the players involved—to stay alive, you manipulate public opinion. But a cricket team has little chance if it gets immersed in such an atmosphere of cut and thrust and innuendo—gaining amplitude as it gets relayed across the airwaves in a dubious mixture of reportage and guesswork. If a captain, mind laden with doubt, seemingly acts only out of a desire to guard his turf. And a coach, irritation barely disguised in public, finds his cricketing theories floundering in the midst of a PR disaster. And if, as fans ask for the latest score, you don't know which match they mean.

For someone who flew to Australia to work on flaws in his batsmanship with Greg Chappell before India last played a series Down Under and who made a strong pitch for the Australian veteran's selection as India coach, Saurav Ganguly may now be waking up to a new reality. That it is one thing to approach him as an occasional source of expert counsel and quite another to have him as a full-time, plainspeaking coach.

Ganguly may not have yet inked a peace pact with coach Chappell after their falling out in full media blare. But luckily, as soon as the muck hit the microphones, damage control started. Ganguly quickly realised that he must get people to move on. "I have had to work hard to get this hundred. I want to do that consistently. But whatever I do, I always keep it in mind that I'm playing for India," he told Outlook referring to his century in the first Test in Bulawayo. "My conscience is clear and I know how hard I am trying to leave my bad batting form behind."

On his part, Chappell chose to take the blow on his chin and get on with his work.If he came across as swallowing the bitter pill, it was okay by him so long as Team India kept its focus."I did not get any call from any board official. But I did not wish to let what happened in Bulawayo continue indefinitely. We all have the interest of the Indian team at heart and it was time to move on," Chappell said. His hand-written statement a day before the second Test in Harare did indicate how disappointed he was that a private tete-a-tete with the captain had become a source of public speculation. Of course, he also talked of how Ganguly and he shared a strong mutual respect for each other going back a long time. "I look forward to working with him in the future," he said.

How then did the Ganguly-Chappell relationship stumble at the first hurdle? First, let us look at the two figures in the unseemly drama—both strong personalities, if in markedly different ways and habits.

The Captain

Captaining India isn't easy. The scrutiny by the media, with a quiverful of former captains and players sitting in judgement and moulding public opinion like never before, can be pretty daunting. "As cricketers, we have learnt to accept criticism that is positive and try to ignore what is malicious but it is not always possible," Ganguly told Outlook."It is not important what the critics have to say but what is critical is what my teammates and coach think about me." His decision to let it be known that he was under pressure to quit as captain may have had to do with his current state of mind. Just about back from a ban but still dogged by poor form, the old insouciance replaced by an image of a nail-biting, doubt-ridden man looking over his shoulder. And everybody citing the loss of the old flamboyance at the crease at every half-opportunity, again and again.

To his credit, it must be said that Ganguly has coped fairly well with thestress. His strength has undoubtedly been his all-out backing of players he believesin. No matter what happens in the coming months, he must go down as one of the few captains who—given a carte blanche—delivered with a rare mix of pluck, instinct and a burning desire not to lose. Immunised for long from the usual pulls and pressures that beset an Indian captain, he now faces a situation of competition.

In his response, he may have occasionally come across as one willing to place himself above the team. More recently, the dread of failure and a dimming future may have cramped his style as captain, his ability to think on his feet. Repeated fines and suspensions, though many of them revoked or reduced, have done him no good. Add to this the sly talk that built up as he sat out of the Nagpur Test against Australia last year, thrusting the reins in Rahul Dravid's hands at the last minute. With the team faring below-par in the past year, there has been a clamour for a change in leadership.

To make it worse, the 33-year-old has been searching for batting form for a while now. His recent century, after a long drought, took him six hours to complete. But the good thing was he was resolved to get a few runs under his belt despite his agitated frame of mind. These runs can boost his confidence and stretch his stay at the top, but even he realises the call for consistency will only increase. Is the Prince of Calcutta nearing the end of the road? No. From the time he was touted as a quota candidate on the tour of England in 1996, Ganguly has repeatedly shown you can never write him off.

The Coach

Chappell's vision for Indian cricket was crystal-clear during his appointment interviews: to lift Team India to No.2 in the icc Test rankings over the next 18 months and also give critical focus to the fact that the team is languishing in the basement of the odi rankings.Clearly, he does not want to stray from that.

The Australian's views on captaincy have been shaped by a cricket culture that favours choosing the best side first and then naming the skipper from among the 11. He is surely aware that India accords a different kind of salience to its captain. But when he was offering Ganguly his opinion—that perhaps he should sit out considering his present form—he may have been talking only from a personal viewpoint. There is a view among former coaches and cricketers that Chappell is perhaps too eager to win the confidence of the players by working hard with them and establish his prime position.But Sanjay Jagdale, manager of the Indian team during the tri-nation series in Sri Lanka earlier this season, says Chappell is proactive and aware of the importance of not burdening the players with unfamiliar workloads.

The Drama

The problem started just before the Zimbabwe tour when Ganguly reached Bombay behind time and a scheduled press conference was delayed, with the coach getting impatient by the minute.But things seemed to have been ironed out, with Ganguly encouraged to approach Chappell during the team's three-day game in Mutare for a frank discussion on his own batting.Chappell said what he believed was the truth.He told Ganguly that the pressures of captaincy were affecting his batting and that he should consider quitting the throne to give himself a better chance as batsman.

After the warm-up game, Chappell appears to have told Ganguly that he had opted to take the easy way out in retiring hurt despite the lack of firepower in the attack. And, just before the training session on the eve of the Bulawayo Test, Chappell told the captain that, on form, he did not really warrant a place in the middle-order ahead of Mohammad Kaif and YuvrajSingh. He may actually have been indicating that Ganguly could think in terms of opening the innings with Virender Sehwag.

By all accounts, Ganguly then asked the coach if he wanted him to quit ascaptain. Chappell told him that it was something he had no control over and the only person who could make that call was Ganguly himself. Chappell saw this merely as an extension of the amicable conversation at Mutare. But a rattled Ganguly sought out deputy Rahul Dravid and manager Amitabh Chaudhary and told them Chappell had asked him to step down. Ganguly also wanted to take the next flight home if he wasn't in the team. Dravid did not take long to convince Chappell to see reason—that changing captains mid-tour was not the best therapy for a team in semi-convalescence.

For a good part of three days, the story stayed under wraps. But when such things are leaked to the media, it is taken away from the main players and a whole lot of others stir the pot. In the background [read in India], many jump into the fray with their opinion. Most former cricketers took potshots at Ganguly for letting a 'private' discussion get public. Even Sachin Tendulkar said dressing room talk was sacrosanct. "It's difficult for me to speak on the issue. But, generally speaking, dressing room discussions should remain within the dressing room," he says.

There are some exceptions too, who say the coach should not have suggested that the captain sit out of a Test match on tour. Key board officials, their focus on the BCCI annual general meeting in Calcutta, did not have much time for the unseemly controversy.In the absence of the full facts, they only said how they did not want to precipitate matters. "We shall await the manager's report before taking any action.We are getting into a review meeting with the coach and we shall look into this," they said and left it to the manager to find a solution.

The man in question, Chaudhary, an ips officer who heads the Bihar Cricket Association, appeared to have convinced both Chappell and Ganguly to see reason a day before the second Test started in Harare."The vibes were positive from both sides when we met before the Test," Chaudhary told Outlook. "As the manager, I couldn't be happier." But the attempt to present a united front didn't cut much ice with anyone, least of all with those who have worked with either man. But, despite the tension in the air, Team India went about its task professionally. Some batsmen came good, the bowlers picked up wickets, and India raced to a 2-0 win.But everyone knows this: had the storm broken on a tougher tour, we may have had a different end to the story.

What Next?

Is there room in Team India for both Ganguly and Chappell? There is no doubt that the chemistry between the duo has to be right if a team has to match performance to potential.Of course, such core differences of opinion—as on the very basis of selection—can't be sunk overnight.The board has its work cut out if the idea behind getting a man like Chappell has to fructify. The six-member buffer committee, including former India captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and S.Venkataraghavan, will meet Chappell in Bombay on September 27 to look into the team's performance in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.Gavaskar is unsure if the committee will broach the controversy while Shastri, known to be among those who believe Ganguly has passed his sell-by date as captain, says it is important for the panel to find out the truth.

Historically, every time a coach of the Indian team has got into a skirmish with the reigning captain, he has come off second best. And, cricket is a captain-drivensport. Perhaps Indian cricket's supremo, former board president Jagmohan Dalmiya, has it in him to find an amicable solution that will allow Ganguly and Chappell to extend theirpartnership. But the moot question is: will he be around to achieve that goal? The BCCI election, when they are held, will also have a bearing on Ganguly'sfuture. If Sharad Pawar successfully storms Dalmiya's bastion, Ganguly could miss the benign hand that has saved him from embarrassment a couple of times in the past year.