Chappell is back

[gator]

Re: Chappell is back mouni is now in SMAO... "Sealed my Arse Off..."

[The Outsider]

Re: Chappell is back

Being a legendary batsman and knowledgeable to the core doesn't necessarily make you a good coach. Good coaches might be a bit limited in their technical knowledge, but they know how to look after a group of players and most importantly - they can express their ideas and vision with clarity. That is FAR more important. Having a genius at the helm is of no use if the team isn't on the same page and thinking along the same lines as him. and i believe that is the case with the current Indian team at the moment. This the one major area where Chappell has been found wanting.

While I agee with the spirit of your argument, I dont think Chappell has necessarily been short on the front of communication. Nor am I saying having a genius at the helm is a guarantee for success. My personal assessment is that overall Chappell has done a good job as coach. One of the main areas he said he will focus on as coach when he took over was fast bowling. And even the die hard Chappell haters will have to give it to him that he has identified a core group of fast bowlers for the future. His other areas of focus were supposed to be fitness, fielding, and mental toughness all intricately related. There has been an uplift in fielding standards and fitness levels. Barring the Aussies, our fast bowlers probably have the best injury record over the past year or so. The team has shown mental toughness on tours to turn things around in Pakistan, WI, and now in SA. He is not the perfect coach and perhaps not even the best in the world. But he is good and has worked on a number of areas which he thought would be key for the development of Indian cricket.

I'd happily give Chappell the benefit of the doubt (like i did when he was appointed) but wasn't he supposed to take India to the next level once Wright stepped down after having brought the team on track after the match-fixing scandal ? The reality is that India haven't progressed much at all since his appointment - the win %'s have been more or less the same. The fact is that Chappell hasn't lived up his part of the bargain, even as Indian supporters have continued to show faith in him.

A coach can only do so much. I've highlighted some of the key areas where we have improved. As for the winning percentage, if you had looked at the numbers 2 months back the story would have been entirely different. So was Chappell doing the right job till two months back and has botched up only in the last 2 months. :shrug: There is so much that goes into a team's winning percentage than coaching. Whatmore is one of the better coaches but has been able to improve BD's winning percentage? Not really, but anyone who has followed their team even a little bit can see the improvement on an individual level. That we have been able to maintain that winning percentage despite Tendulkar and Sehwag going off the boil means we've improved elsewhere. And surely these two going off the boil cannot be Chappell's shortcoming specially Tendulkar. As far as his being an attention whore etc. is concerned I agree and said similar things above but those are a few negatives we have to take as part of the package which overall has been good, IMO.

[shailesh]

Re: Chappell is back Will the additional bounce still be a problem? It was tough. I mean, how long had we been in South Africa before we got to Durban? We'd only been here a week or so. It takes some adjustment. It's like the Indian team coming to Australia and going to Perth for the first time. They'd be better equipped the second time around. South Africa got bowled out for 84 here at the Wanderers, so they might not be looking forward to going to Durban either.

[Predator_05]

Re: Chappell is back

While I agee with the spirit of your argument, I dont think Chappell has necessarily been short on the front of communication. Nor am I saying having a genius at the helm is a guarantee for success. My personal assessment is that overall Chappell has done a good job as coach. One of the main areas he said he will focus on as coach when he took over was fast bowling. And even the die hard Chappell haters will have to give it to him that he has identified a core group of fast bowlers for the future. His other areas of focus were supposed to be fitness, fielding, and mental toughness all intricately related. There has been an uplift in fielding standards and fitness levels. Barring the Aussies, our fast bowlers probably have the best injury record over the past year or so. The team has shown mental toughness on tours to turn things around in Pakistan, WI, and now in SA. He is not the perfect coach and perhaps not even the best in the world. But he is good and has worked on a number of areas which he thought would be key for the development of Indian cricket.

Well, all we are doing here is making inferences from the statements he has made in the press...but judging by the manner in which he handled Pathan in WI i get the feeling that his methodology and overall way of running the ship isn't quite appreciated by the players. That was just one example. The batting has invariably gotten worse. Have fielding standards really improved ? There was period of time at the start of India's winning streak when the fielding was top class, but the players' performances since then have deteriorated. Dravid for example, was a top class slip fielder but has now been reduced into a nervous wreck. In the last year alone, he has dropped more catches than i've ever seen him do. The team looked shoddy in Malaysia and in the CT and i can refer you to vroomfondel's article here whch expands on this point of mine. Fielding is often used as the barometer to measure a team's morale. Generally, if the players are showing commitment and enthusiasm out there, then it's evident that they are in a healthy state of mind. With that said, if we analyse at the Indian fielding in recent times, the team looks quite down - to put it lightly.

A coach can only do so much. I've highlighted some of the key areas where we have improved. As for the winning percentage, if you had looked at the numbers 2 months back the story would have been entirely different. So was Chappell doing the right job till two months back and has botched up only in the last 2 months. :shrug:

You can't isolate periods of his stint and look at them selectively. Look at the bigger picture. It's not just a case of one or two months. The numbers don't mask their failure to progress - a fact made apparent by the manner in which they have gotten worse since the new year began. Sure, India have transcended heights never seen before in ODI's and to a lesser extent in tests by winning their first ever series overseas and first ever test in SA, but that is just one side of the story. For the 17 consecutive chases and the first ever Test series win in WI - you also have the team's worst ever defeat at Karachi (365 runs, was it ?), a drawn test series vs an average England side at home and the worst ever ODI losing streak since '89 (6 consecutive matches) along with the first ever clean sweep suffered in an ODI series since '97. Are these facts indicative of the supposedly consistent team India are supposed to be ? The excuse you are giving for Chappell (ie; a good overall win % up to a certain point) could have applied to Ganguly and Wright when the team lost the Asia Cup final and crashed out of the Videocon triangular in Holland (Pak made the final instead). That didn't mean that everything was still hunky-dory and the two tournament losses could be written off as blips though, did it ? The team was going stale, and that was merely the start of what was to be a terrible year for India. In the case of this new Indian side, it's all been downhill since the WI series...and this might well just be the beginning of the end.

There is so much that goes into a team's winning percentage than coaching. Whatmore is one of the better coaches but has been able to improve BD's winning percentage? Not really, but anyone who has followed their team even a little bit can see the improvement on an individual level.

A coach's results should be evaluated based on the talent he has at his disposal. Success is defined according to how good a particular team really is. For BD, success would be one ODI win over a good Test-level team. For India, reaching the final of a tournament is considered success but for Australia, anything less than victory would be unacceptable. The standards which construe success for Whatmore are far lower because he has a young, inexperienced team. When he had a group of players at SL who harboured greater ambitions, he delivered a World Cup. Chappell has no such credentials to speak of. So the question you need to ask yourself is; has Chappell managed to get the best out of the players in his squad ? Given that this is the most talented group of players India have produced in a long time, the results make unsatisfactory reading. Did you honestly expect India to have a similar win % as the last team management when he was appointed ? I sure as hell didn't. The only reason why i constantly gave him the B.O.D. was because i believed that the team had gotten stale and couldn't go any further under Ganguly. Chappell and the new captain Rahul Dravid were meant to take a well-established group of players to the next level. My expectation from Chappell was to see him develop a much more consistent Indian side - a side capable of performing at a higher level and achieving better results than the erratic, underachieving Indan team of the Ganguly era. However, to my disappointment - the team has shown scant improvement since his arrival, with the exception of those first few months. You can talk all about intangible improvement at individual level et al, but it all sounds rather naive when you notice how the results look just as mediocre...and ultimately, the results are what matter most. Chappell just hasn't lived up to his billing, and when the coach takes the limelight and hogs his share of the immense adulation expressed by the Indian public after every win - he should be held equally accountable for the losses as well.