'Greg Chappell was Indian cricket’s biggest disaster'

[b555]

In the biggest attack yet on Greg Chappell and his role in 2005 with Indian cricket as chief coach, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh says the current Australian full-time selector was after Sachin and wanted the master blaster to retire. Bhajji was speaking to Shekhar Gupta in the show ‘Walk the Talk’. Here are the excerpts of a very interesting interview. http://sports.in.msn.com/cricket/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4380462

[someone]

Imo, he was not good but he tried . He was saying so much about having a younger team and look at now, we are having a younger team and playing our best.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[putrevus]

Since Guru Gregg took over baasu has scored about 3700 runs in test kirkut and will in all likelyhood end up scoring atleast about 2K more runs which is about roughly 80% of what Guru Gregg managed in his entire freakin career. I wont even get into the ODI numbers because it is too phunny. Talk about pwnage :hehe:

what was his motivation, he obviously wanted to succeed as Indian coach so why did he do , what he did. He wanted younger fitter side and wanted to make everyone accountable which in theory was not a bad thing especially in india where youngsters like rohit are so lackadaisical and unfit, you need task master, maybe having Dravid as captain screwed up things too , he let guru Greg do as he pleased.I still don't understand why he leaked things to press.

[ravishingravi]

I think they were not meant for each other. This is a tough "Aussie" who brings a different culture to the team. I remember when Ganguly was dropped which should have been done much before, it was met with heavy criticism but it made wonders to him. But he was too outspoken, hogged too much of limelight and was not very accomodating apparently. He also seemed to over complicate simple stuff and was single handeldy responsible for what is left of Irfan Pathan. It was a cultural mis match. Where he came from, Waugh was sacked after one bad series and here we believe in great players beyond reproach.

[saneindian]

what was his motivation, he obviously wanted to succeed as Indian coach so why did he do , what he did. He wanted younger fitter side and wanted to make everyone accountable which in theory was not a bad thing especially in india where youngsters like rohit are so lackadaisical and unfit, you need task master, maybe having Dravid as captain screwed up things too , he let guru Greg do as he pleased.I still don't understand why he leaked things to press.

Chappel was a dictator and wanted to run a one man show. Looked to be on a mission to destroy so many Indian careers. Ganguly, Sachin, Sehwag, Bhajji, Irfan.. Even the 2007 WC disaster was largely due to the bad planning by him, screwed up the team combination by never letting anyone settle down in the batting order Ganguly, Uthappa, Gambhir, Sehwag all opened for us in the practice series vs SL and WI and even in the practice games before the WC!!.SO much for "methodical preparation" and the debono hats that he used to keep referring to. As for his strategic acument, an idiot who insists Sachin bats at no 4 in ODIs or else doesnt get to play in the ODI team should never ever be called a tactician. Chappel was a dumbass and nomore.

[putrevus]

Chappel was a dictator and wanted to run a one man show. Looked to be on a mission to destroy so many Indian careers. Ganguly, Sachin, Sehwag, Bhajji, Irfan.. Even the 2007 WC disaster was largely due to the bad planning by him, screwed up the team combination by never letting anyone settle down in the batting order Ganguly, Uthappa, Gambhir, Sehwag all opened for us in the practice series vs SL and WI and even in the practice games before the WC!!.SO much for "methodical preparation" and the debono hats that he used to keep referring to. As for his strategic acument, an idiot who insists Sachin bats at no 4 in ODIs or else doesnt get to play in the ODI team should never ever be called a tactician. Chappel was a dumbass and nomore.

to be fair on him Sachin was going thru his worst phase of his cricketing career,but I think he tried too many things too fast and ended up with nothing.

[Shakthi]

I dont know about other players but Chappal did destroyed Irfan Pathan,s career without doubt.

[blewatt]

Instead of creating confidence in the players mind, he created only doubts in their abilities. That led to the disaster for many players careers

[thevortex]

Chappell must be credited with putting India on track as to what to look for. True fast bowlers and a will and desire to win away from home. But nobody is all good and he had his bad moments. Problem was his bad moments were too many and too public. I was with him on dropping Ganguly. Probably far earlier than what eventually happened. But definitely not with him on dropping Sachin - if indeed that is what happened.

[The Outsider]

Shekhar Gupta: So, you learnt your tricks over time. Harbhajan Singh: Yes, just by bowling in the nets and working hard. I love bowling single wickets, I think every spinner should bowl lots of single wickets. It gives you a lot of confidence. I still do it.

But, Bhajji don't assume that the single wicket is the leg stump. :winky:

[Rajan]

He also seemed to over complicate simple stuff and was single handeldy responsible for what is left of Irfan Pathan. It was a cultural mis match. Where he came from, Waugh was sacked after one bad series and here we believe in great players beyond reproach.

ever checked the facts regarding that? he had a series of bad series but was persisted with!even his brother Mark. they were considered 'untouchables' by the yardstick applied to other cricketers like Dean Jones,Greg Blewett,Slater... the fans used to refer them as -Kola Sr & Kola Jr, referring to the Kola Bears which were considered to be close to extinction and so enjoyed special protection status. i have been reading your posts/threads, just 1 question, are you an Indian?

[ZodiaC]

ever checked the facts regarding that? he had a series of bad series but was persisted with!even his brother Mark. they were considered 'untouchables' by the yardstick applied to other cricketers like Dean Jones,Greg Blewett,Slater... the fans used to refer them as -Kola Sr & Kola Jr, referring to the Kola Bears which were considered to be close to extinction and so enjoyed special protection status. i have been reading your posts/threads, just 1 question, are you an Indian?

:haha: :haha: @OP: I don't even wanna talk about this mofo. :headshake:

[riwi999]

I think they were not meant for each other. This is a tough "Aussie" who brings a different culture to the team. I remember when Ganguly was dropped which should have been done much before, it was met with heavy criticism but it made wonders to him. But he was too outspoken, hogged too much of limelight and was not very accomodating apparently. He also seemed to over complicate simple stuff and was single handeldy responsible for what is left of Irfan Pathan. It was a cultural mis match. Where he came from, Waugh was sacked after one bad series and here we believe in great players beyond reproach.

Totally agree. Cultural misfit. Chappell was a tough taskmaster, no doubt. In his playing days, he had set very high standards for himself. Ever the perfectionist, whether in batting or fielding. There was a time when he was going through a lean patch as a batsman. He worked very hard, doubled his concentration and got himself back on track. Since these methods had worked for him, he tried to use these methods as coach in India. But one man's food is another's poison. It just did not work in the Indian scheme of things. I totally disagree that he tried to destroy the careers of players. Which coach would do that? He may not have been empathetic or sympathetic. You can say he was single-minded, you can say he was not a "father-figure", you can say he tended to end up demotivating the players. You can level all these accusations at him but you cannot question his motives. He genuinely tried to raise the standard of Indian cricket. But in the only way he knew. And that way did not work. Also, this thing about leaking to the media. I think Chappell was naive in that respect. In India anyway, the media is hounding you all the time. Chappell did not have experience of dealing with this sort of media, he was not the most diplomatic of persons anyway. I remember being very shocked by that comment of his days after he took over when he said that Sachin should consider retiring. So yes, his handling of the media was very suspect. He was certainly a cultural misfit for the Indian team. You can question his methods but not his intentions. Also, he did come up with the idea of building proper bench strength so as to rotate players to prevent them from injury. In the environment of mistrust that prevailed at that time, this may have caused a further sense of insecurity amongst players. He was also the one who saw Raina's potential and tried to give him a run in the side. Overall, his tenure did do much more harm than good, though.

[hitman1980]

Bhajji himself is such a crap bowler .. I am sure he was on greg's list to be kicked out of the team ..

[yoda]

Bhajji himself is such a crap bowler .. I am sure he was on greg's list to be kicked out of the team ..

I think only RD and Kumble were missing from that list, if at all. :giggle:

[Shakthi]

RD never supported his players over coach thats a fact Dada was aggressive Rahul was soft no wonder Chappal had all the authority to punish our players.

[Zap_Brannigan]

Chapell was a egoistic, cricket coaching equivalent of a spy novelist who has never been a spy and gets his ideas from movies, tv shows, other books and real spies. He talked too much theory, got his job based on that. Once he was on the field, it was pretty clear that his theory weren't practical and in reality had many flaws. He then blamed the players for his in in-competencies. Dravid, like tendulkar, are old-school players who believe and trust their coach and need a coaches expertise in the technical aspects, which was a big mistake. All Chapel could contribute were ideas and not methods to implement them nor fail safes when they fail. You and I could come up with such ideas and we do in ICF every day. But having ideas and successfully implementing them are complete different ball game. I have, in my mind, very good ideas. Will that make a successful coach? Chapel was basically an armchair critic,just like you and I, who actually got the coaches job.

[someone]

Chapell was a egoistic, cricket coaching equivalent of a spy novelist who has never been a spy and gets his ideas from movies, tv shows, other books and real spies. He talked too much theory, got his job based on that. Once he was on the field, it was pretty clear that his theory weren't practical and in reality had many flaws. He then blamed the players for his in in-competencies. Dravid, like tendulkar, are old-school players who believe and trust their coach and need a coaches expertise in the technical aspects, which was a big mistake. All Chapel could contribute were ideas and not methods to implement them nor fail safes when they fail. You and I could come up with such ideas and we do in ICF every day. But having ideas and successfully implementing them are complete different ball game. I have, in my mind, very good ideas. Will that make a successful coach? Chapel was basically an armchair critic,just like you and I, who actually got the coaches job.

Look I do not agree with all this, because if some players are old-school players, that does not mean they will be the boss. But actually, those players should have got along well in another master in another era, Chapel. And secondly, you are saying like our Indian team was the best team ever at that stage, India would have struggled with another coach. And also, a coach job is only 10% while it is the players job to do the other 90% with the implantation. So if anyone failed, it would also include the players. And ironically, it is his ideas right out with a younger team that has made us better today. I do not know where this debate will go but the point is Chapel was not as bad as it is made out while at the same time he was not the the greatest.

[jhakati]

greg chappell was a clown who promised the world cup but delivered a first round exit:haha: glad he was kicked out and humiliated for his pathetic contribution to indian cricketB->