LIVER 'pool' ed

What a month that was? Oft used to describe a month that passed by rapidly, I could come across nothing else to capture the worst month of my life in a nutshell. I have often heard about ups and downs being a part of life and experienced it too, but it has always struck me as being something too trivial. It was a month I had been looking forward to for a year because birthdays come just once a year and I was to finally get rid of the immaturity associated with teenhood. The start of the English Premier League season and the prospect of getting back behind Liverpool after a bland World cup besides the prospect of some challenging work associated with my management fest kept me buzzing. This is how the next few days actually turned out.

August 1: My uncle comes to Varanasi along with aunt and grandma on a spiritual tour for a day. I accompany them thus missing my first classes of the semester. Forced to accept the rustic beauty of Varanasi for the first time. An agnostic, I 'visit' around 10 temples, grumble at why people get so 'religious' and am an exhausted lot by evening. Pause for a moment wondering about the number of temples present here. With 60 odd ghats and each having its share, this place should easily make its way to the record books. My estimate is around 300 temples. And I spent a day covering 1/30th of that! A spiritual behemoth indeed! But some things never change. The Ganges is still brownish-black and I am too lazy to see them off to the station. I get treated at the 'Diamond' by one of the greatest misers in IT history and am forced to think of visiting temples most often. Am satisfied at having missed 4 classes.

August 2-16: Life passes off as usual with time passing off quickly even with my doing nothing. Classes, sleeping and browsing take up most of the time. Have numerous meetings to give our management festival 'OPULENCE' some shape. Put the final touches to a pretty lousy brochure but am still satisfied. At least some work done. Behave like a stupid 'professional' politician in refusing to give up my post of TPR. Feel gung-ho about it. Try in vain to get some other TPRs elected to assist me in this crucial month. Miss another 3 classes due to general laziness.

August 17: Get my training set up. Am quite happy for that is a major headache out of the way and I get paid as well. Miss 7 classes having to involve myself in what was supposed to be a tough selection procedure but in the end turns out to be quite biased. My classmates exercise their legs and try desperately to get some leather off their slippers when I return with promises to repeat the process over the next few days. What a weird world! My body pains as I go to sleep.

August 19: Opulence general body meeting takes place. Am excited at the way the meeting proceeds and also at the response. Eat heavily in the afternoon as a consequence. Wake up at night feeling uneasy. Decide to take a fast at night despite having been a very profitable Saturday. Liverpool draw 1-1 to Sheffield United.

August 21: It is my birthday and my classmates repeat the entire exercising process very extensively for around an hour just as the day dawns. Go to sleep once again with pain, wondering. Bathe for the second time in the morning this semester before going to class. Sport a new T-shirt and get back in the afternoon buzzing. Plans have already been set up by my classmates on my treating them at the TAJ that night. Withdraw money after sending my parents unconscious. Feel uneasy in the evening but still drag myself to the temple. Get a fever and dinner is off. I thus save some money or so I think.

Read on below….

LIVER 'pool' ed contd......

A prosperous month continues....

August 22: Wake up feeling terrible. Think it might be the after effects of deficient sleep over the past week. Go to class. One of my friends detects a tinge of yellow in my eyes which no one else can. Ridicule him with a tinge of fear within. Go to the doctor after class who assures me that it isn't a case of jaundice but still asks me to test for it. Get tested and go back relieved. Feel weak the whole day. Go to collect the results wearing shorts. The results reveal that I have substantial jaundice. The bilirubin levels are 3.6 with the normal limit being 0.8 and SGPT levels are 15000 with the normal levels being 50. I abuse for the 5th time during the day and change into lowers. Call my parents up who want me to leave immediately for my uncle's house in Delhi. (My parents being in Trivandrum, it would have probably taken me the rest of the month to get there). Board the Rajdhani that night courtesy the real wonderful friends I have got who display admirable selflesness. Am forced to run the entire station to catch the train, not advisable for a jaundice patient.

The next month is spent without oil, fat, salt, spices, sweets.....the list is too long. Mineral water, papayas, coconut water, glucose and a very very restricted diet has left me shrivelled and completely worn out mentally and physically. How do you spend a month with no books and television for they strain your eyes just lying on a cot thinking of life's glorious uncertainities? My bilirubin levels still conspired to rise till 14 which sent my doctor getting me to scan my liver in search of stones or cysts. Besides, my fitness conscious classmates had ensured a bent tailbone with appreciable swelling. What worse for a person needing bedrest than be unable to lie down upright or sit down? Things got to such a state that I was pretty much willing the levels down. All my shirts bore a familiar look of yellow. To make matters worse, my friends were reminding me about my attendance, missed tests, missed classes,missed whatever; Liverpool lost to Everton, Chelsea and only managed to draw with PSV; India finished 11th at the hockey World cup; Sania lost in the 2nd round at the US Open; India's cricket team was losing; the management fest was losing (so the convener says though I refuse to believe that my absence can affect anything) and all the plans that I had with regards to training remained just that. I had lost count of the number of classes missed when I returned on September 20th though I reckon my current attendance is around 55%. My Professors have already asked me to get it to 70% if I need to have a shot at writing the exams. How very assuring for a person who is mentally and physiaclly worn out, whose last checked bilirubin levels were 4.1 a week back, who no longer wants to take tests for there might be insufficient blood and who has been forced to return and attend classes just because of the attendance mess! I have forgotten how buttter tastes; the tastiest thing I have is mineral water and being still confined to bed in the hostel unsure as to whether I will be able to write the end semester exams and pass this year can't necessarily be described as the best state of mind to get into. The academic backlog of a month in what is supposed to be our toughest semester not withstanding, things are looking up. Liverpool have won against Newcastle and Tottenham; Sania Mirza won 3 matches in a row; India won a cricket match; Opulence work is proceeding; a fresh set of plans have been hatched to improve the training scenario courtesy 3 more TPRs to accompany me; and I am attending classes. Do reckon that I am due for a bit of luck and good fortune and a few comments for my posts would not be a bad way to start. But I still need to do something like 140 consecutive classes to get my attendance back on track, I am still agnostic and all the jaundice expenses have eaten into all that money that I had .....

Delusion that is…..Contd.

So, why this rather strange title to go for this blog ? After all, what is so delusory about the Brazilians ? Aren’t they the innocent group of individuals who believe in the philosophy of ‘Joga Bonito?’ It is this issue of perceptions that I would like to deal with in this post. Personally, I am not one who used to believe in using stats and numbers to my advantage. I was at best a very hesitant follower of history, something my quizzing credentials would not quite stand testimony to. In fact, I loathed statistics and believed it was a creation of the media to bore people. This was until I got across this book, Freakonomics by a ‘mad’ economist as Stephen .D. Levitt describes himself. A book that I would instantly recommend to everybody, Stephen did a damn good job of convincing me about the power of statistics and numbers. From someone who had the ‘bikini’ approach (as the MP Sardar would put it) towards numbers, I have started believing in using Levitt’s simple philosophy of asking the most ridiculous questions to challenge the age-old perceptions. If Levitt could ask whether a gun is actually more dangerous than a swimming pool or whether money does win elections as is perception and prove them to be convincingly wrong; surely there is scope for this question to put forward: ‘Are Brazil an attacking side after all ?’ In retrospective, are Brazil not the most boring side to play the game over the last decade ?

It would be only fair to say that till the 1980’s Brazil played some of the most dazzling football that this world has seen. With attacking talent that may never be matched let alone surpassed BrazilBrazil’s reputation has more to do with heritage than reason- Levitt’s theory of perception to fulfill our beliefs exemplified here. used to put it across teams with consummate ease. But come 1990, it is evident that

For sake of comparison, let us put in the Azzuri and the Nazis (oops 50$ down the drain)- perceived to be the two most boring sides in football with tactics based more on strength and unity than technicality and flair. Brazil came to the 90’ WC with what is widely accepted as its worst side in modern times- another of those conspiracy theories for they said that about their teams in ’94,’98 and’02. This is a classical case of ‘conventional wisdom’ and perception not quite in collusion as John Kenneth Galbraith would put it for if you were the worst side, how could you be the most entertaining one? And mind you, in all these tournaments Brazil were considered dodgy because of their leak proof defence; not due to absence of thrust in the attacking half.

Put in arguably the easiest group in’90 along with Costa Rica, Sweden and the Scots, Brazil managed to tally just 4 goals despite the attacking talent of Careca and having Romario and Bebeto in the wings. Managing to score just four goals and conceding 1 Brazil, surprisingly topped the group but were unsurprisingly put out in the next round by a Claudio Cannigia inspired Argentina 0-1. West Germany meanwhile scored 12 conceding 3 whereas Italy scored 6 conceding none in the same number of matches. Yes, Brazil conceded more number of goals against Italy but if you score 4 goals in 4 matches, it doesn’t necessarily take a great mathematician to figure out that your probability of qualifying isn’t all that great.

Fast forward to ’94, Brazil possessed great attacking strength in the form of firing players like Bebeto, Romario and Zinha. Brazil lived up to its billing in the group stages scoring 6 and conceding 1 in the group stages to finish top of the group. Germany and Italy had 5-3 and 2-2 records respectively at the same stage. At the end of the tournament, Brazil had a 11-3 record from 7 matches including the goalless final they won on penalties; Italy after their disappointing start recovered to finish with a 10-5 record in the same number of matches; Germany went out in the quarters with a 9-7 record. More number of goals in more matches is no surprise but just one more than Italy and an average of just more than 1.5 goals per game doesn’t befit the most ‘attacking’ side in the world. To illustrate the point further, in the knockout stages when it becomes considerably more difficult to score because of more quality opposition, Brazil managed to score just 5 times to Italy’s 6.

Now to ’98 when Ronaldo and Rivaldo graced the WC stage for the first time joining the still potent Bebeto alongside the ‘magic’ Denilson. Brazil just managed to net 6 times during the group stages conceding 3. Spain, Italy, France and the Dutch managed to score more goals with Germany notching 6 as well. However, by the end of the tournament, the supposedly misfiring stars had managed to gather a head of steam to score an impressive 14 goals in all but their defence couldn’t sustain pressure from the Les Blues as they succumbed 0-3 in the finals; their defence was breached 10 times in all in the finals. France finished with 15 goals. Italy and Germany found goals difficult to come by in the later stages and went out in the quarterfinal stages tallying 8 goals in all. Brazil averaged 2 goals per match but their opposition along the way comprised Chile and Denmark- 2 teams that haven’t qualified since.

Finally to ’02 when all the speculation was surrounding Ronaldo who after the mystery final in ’98, was making an appearance in a WC after a season plagued by injury. Brazil finished with an impressive 11 goals- the same tally as Germany. Brazil managed to add a further 7 goals en route to the final to Germany’s 3. 18 goals in 7 matches is truly impressive but again this was a World Cup which was mired in medioicrity and opposition like Costa Rica, China and Belgium are not the top of everyone’s list as far as contenders are concerned. Their defence was the stingiest in the competition conceding just 4 times- the same as Germany. Italy, for the stake of statistics scored 5 times to go out in the round of 16.

’06, Germany has been similar in the sense that they have progressively got better scoring 7 goals in all ( as of now) in the group stages conceding just once. Germany have scored 8 times whereas Italy have managed five. Robinho and Adriano have joined ranks as Brazil are playing with their most attacking combination taking the past decade into consideration.

So, where does this leave us with? The tally, skeptics might argue is certainly impressive. It certainly is. But the point that has been missed is that Brazil, in all these competitions has possessed one of the better defensive records, if not the best. The conclusion that has to be drawn and one which was concurred to by their current coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira is that Brazil are a counter attacking side whose game is based on a strong defensive foundation. Surprise, Surprise! And that for a side with a very suspect defence. Their record at every tournament, defensively has been better than Italy and Germany despite having put up greater numbers in the matches column. They play with an attacking formation, but in essence their game is based on the quality of their defensive midfielders. Dunga, Emerson and Gilberto Silva are all unsung heroes but are amongst the best in the tournament. There might be a line of thought that an attacking side might not always be best represented in the goals column if they are not the most efficient. But, here we are talking about the likes of Ronaldo, Romario, Adriano and Rivaldo- amongst the best in the business year in and year out for their clubs. Another argument can of course be that Brazil’s attacking prowess might force coaches into playing defensive formations thus negating their own attacking game, thus accounting for Brazil’s defensive record. Roberto Carlos, Cafu and Lucio have stayed on in the team for years but Brazilian forwards but for Ronaldo have been like revolving doors- their longevity always in question. Thus, opposition coaches too seem to be sucked into the great whirlpool of perception for if Brazil are a counter attacking side, it means that they are not likely to be in possession of the ball for long and you rather well do something about it. Averaging way under 2 goals a game, Brazil are nowhere near the attacking side they once were. They have got a bunch of individuals with great pace and positional sense which makes them deadly as a counter attacking team.

It is this same aura of invincibility surrounding their defence that seems to be existing within the team that I believe will prove to be the undoing of the Samba boys. Cafu and Robert Carlos are not in the same league anymore and Brazil would be better served by the likes of Cicinho and Silvinho. Emerson looks a spent force in the defensive midfield position and the omission of the immense Gilberto Silva cannot be overlooked. But there seems to be a false sense of aura which I believe could make Brazilian meet their waterloo at the hands of the technical and speedy Ghana side provided they manage to keep their tempers in control. What good are a counter attacking side if they are dominated offensively and not given the ball. Brazil would then be reduced to a bunch of tricksters without getting anywhere. As Levitt would say ‘conventional wisdom’ and ‘perception’ can be both proved wrong.

Delusion that is the Samba Boys

If you were to hear about Brazil there would probably be three things that register instantly in your mind – its beautiful beaches, scantily clad beauties and of course ‘Joga Bonito’. The beautiful game has come to be synonymous with Brazil over the years and has become ingrained in the common man’s psyche. The three ‘divine pleasures’ have become intertwined for Brazil’s football starts at the beaches and erudite pleasures are part of the package.

Life does come to a standstill literally. Government timings have been changed, television sets have been installed in prisons for fear of riots and special channels have been established to provide the most in-depth coverage to its citizens. But for them it is only the World Cup matters. Defeat in the final is considered to be a national catastrophe as the 0-3 defeat to France at the Stad de France in ’98 proved; inquests as to the cause continue till this day.

The primary reason that the Samba Boys enjoy such backing throughout the globe is because of the attacking flair they have possessed over the years. No other nation has captivated and left audiences spellbound with their riveting style of play as much as Brazil have. But very little is known about the true Brazilian legends- the Leonidas’, Vavas, Didis…the list is endless. A peek into the Brazilian teams of the past:

1930,Uruguay

The first World Cup resembled a carnival in that all those who wished could play at the finals. This was probably the only Brazilian squad that went to a WC finals without any stars. Characterized by regional imbalance- all but one member of the squad hailed from Rio de Janeiro.

The team (line-up in the first match, againstYugoslavia): Joel; Brilhante and Itália; Hermógenes, Fausto and Fernando; Poly, Nilo, Araken, Preguinho (C) and Teóphilo.
Reserves: Velloso (G), Zé Luiz, Oscarino, Benevenuto, Ivan Mariz, Fortes, Pamplona, Benedito, Russinho, Carvalho Leite, Doca and Moderato.
Coach: Píndaro de Carvalho.

Going into the sub zero temperatures of Montevideo, the Brazilian side finished sixth with a loss to Yugoslavia and a thrashing of Bolivia. In the mid-match time out, the Brazilians used blankets and hot tea to try to warm themselves. Preguinho, their captain became the first Brazilian to score in a WC. A disappointment nevertheless but Sao Paulo wasn’t complaining.

1934, Italy

The team: Pedrosa, Sylvio Hoffman, Luiz Luz; Tinoco, Martim (C), Canalli; Luisinho, Waldemar de Brito, Armandinho, Leônidas, Patesko.

Bureaucratic hassles ensured that Brazil took an understrength squad once again to a WC. Played on a knockout basis, Brazil lost their first and consequently their only match of the tournament to Spain, 1-3. However the match would turn out to be the precursor to the rise of the first Brazilian great, Leonidas da Silva, who scored their only goal.

1938, France

The team (line-up in the first match, against Poland): Batatais; Domingos and Machado; Zezé Procópio, Martim and Afonsinho; Lopes, Romeu, Leônidas (C), Perácio and Hércules.

1938 represented the first time that Brazil took a full strength squad to a WC. The journey to France took 15 days by ship and by the time the Brazilian squad got there most of the players reported sick. However, that couldn’t prevent Brazil from defeating Poland 6-5, a record for the most goals scored in a single WC match. A loss to Italy dampened victories over Czhechoslovakia and Sweden. Domingos da Guia, the "Divine", recognized until today as one of the most talented Brazilian defenders of all time, says that he was kicked by Italian Piola; when he kicked back, the Swiss referee took it as a foul, and awarded a penalty to Italy from which they scored to proceed to the final.

Leônidas was one of the best Brazilian players of all time. He was the inventor of that difficult movement called bicycle. Leônidas was the main striker of the 1938 Cup, with seven goals. Because of his talent and the fact that he was one of the first black men to bright in a World Cup, French media called him "Diamant Noir", or "Black Diamond" in English, or "Diamante Negro", as he became known in Brazil. Leônidas knew how to use his color. There are records that, when he scored the last goal against Poland, Leônidas was shoe-less, and this would be grounds for the referee to invalidate the goal. Cleverly, Leônidas splashed his feet into the dark mud; the referee could not tell Leonidas' black socks from his black legs and from the (non-existent) black shoes.

1950, Brazil

The team (line-up in the first match, against Mexico): Barbosa; Augusto (C) and Juvenal; Eli, Danilo and Bigode; Maneca, Ademir, Baltazar, Jair and Friaça.

World Cup football returned after the war enforced break and the Brazilians came into the tournament as favourites. Da Silva was 12 years older but was still playing professionally. The backbone of the Brazilian team comprised of Barbosa (considered, along with Gilmar, who was champion in 1958 and 1962, one of the best Brazilian goalkeepers of all time), the captain Augusto and the forward Ademir de Menezes, who would score nine goals to become the striker of the Cup. Besides, Brazil still had Jair da Rosa Pinto, skin and refined, and Zizinho, who happens to be the declared idol of Pelé, when the King was young (Zizinho did not play the first two matches in the Cup only because he was recovering from an injury). Brazil lived up to its reputation hammering Sweden 7-1 and a strong Spanish team 6-1. Needing a draw in the final group game at the historic Maracana (WC 1950 didn’t have a final) which was watched by over 200,000 people Brazil went down 1-2 to Uruguay who thus won the Jules Rimet Trophy for the second time.

Ademir de Menezes, Barbosa, Zizinho

1954, Switzerland

Line-up in the match against Mexico:
Djalma Santos, Brandãozinho, Nilton Santos, Pinheiro,
Mario Américo (masseur), Castilho and Bauer;
Julinho, Didi, Baltazar, Pinga and Rodrigues.

This was a tournament of firsts for Brazil- forced to qualify and travel by air. After the 1950 debacle came the predictable sacking of the coach but the loss had such far reaching consequences that the white jersey was retired as white was considered to be associated with cowardice. The yellow sunshine outfit coupled with a youthful outfit did little to reverse Brazil’s performances on the field as a disappointing draw with Yugoslavia followed by a thrashing by Puskas’ ‘Magic Magyars’ ensured that Brazil faltered at the first hurdle. The WC introduced the world to Didi and Julinho Botelho.

Known as the man who shut up Maracana after 1954, Julinho moved to Fiorentina, Italy, and was fundamental for the team to conquer their first scudetto, in 1955/56; Julinho was invited to play the 1958 Cup, but refused, honestly saying that someone playing in Brazil deserved the chance; he came back to Palmeiras -and the Brazilian team - in 1959; in a match in Maracanã, Julinho was announced as substitute of Garrincha; 150,000 people booed Julinho as he entered the field; Julinho scored the first Brazilian goal in five minutes; he served for the second goal, as was the player of the match; in the end, the entire Maracanã stood up to applaud Julinho.

1958, Sweden

The line-up in the first match, against Austria:
De Sordi, Dino Sani, Bellini, Nilton Santos, Orlando and Gilmar;
M. Américo, Joel, Didi, Mazzola, Vavá and Zagallo.

Reserves: Castilho (G), Djalma Santos, Mauro, Zózimo, Oreco, Zito, Pelé, Dino Sani, Moacir, Dida and Pepe.
Coach: Vicente Feola.

In the build up to the tournament it was widely believed that Brazil possessed the skill, speed, strength and stamina but not the emotional maturity to win the tournament. From the team of 1954, few remained; from the principals, only two: Nilton Santos and Didi. On May 29th, Brazil played against Fiorentina; in a given moment, Garrincha takes the ball and dribbles the entire defense; before kicking to the open goal, he awaits another defender to arrive; he dribbles the adversary again and only then does he score the goal. The psychologist said that such a player had no conditions to play in the Brazilian team. In the next match, on June 1st, against Internazionale in Milan, Joel had replaced Garrincha. After a disappointing draw against England it was believed that the team needed a bit of unpredictability for the match against USSR and in came Zito, Pele and Garrincha. The legend of Pele was born. The ‘Black Pearl’ opened his WC account against Wales. He went on to score a hat-trick against Just Fontaine’s France and also scored in the demolition act in the final against Sweden. The world had seen glimpses of the king. Brazil deservingly won the World Cup for the first time.

Why was Pele given # 10? In 1958, the numbers in the uniforms would be defined by the respective comissions, and would remain unchanged through the tournament. The Brazilian Comission, however, overlooked this norm. The Swedish comissioner, rushed before the first Brazilian match, decided to assign numbers by himself.
Pelé, the youngest and probably least known of all players, was given the #10. This is one of the mystical stories which surround the career of Pelé.

Chappellway here to stay

When Greg Chappell took over as coach of the Indian cricket team after India's disastrous home series against Pakistan in the early part of 2005, the general consensus was that a new era was being ushered in. With philosophies like 'commitment to excellence', 'spirit of endeavour' and 'lateral thinking' which were beyond the grasp of most, this visionary Aussie built an aura around himself. What had initially looked like an extended honeymoon period turned sour with the now well documented spat between Ganguly and Chappell. India's losses in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe led to the inevitable questioning of Chappell's methods and his obstinacies..Chappell's quest to invigorate a clearly sagging side led to the axing of many senior players, Kumble, Zaheer and Laxman, prominent among them.But when Chappell raised questions about the then Indian skipper, all hell seemed to break loose. Clearly, if changes had to be made it had to start from the worst fielder in the side, a specialist batsman averaging less than 25 in the ODIS over the last two years and somebody who was on the decline.Why the same hue and cry was not raised when performing assets like Kumble and Laxman were dropped smacks of a certain in built hypocrisy.
The recent test series in Pakistan only served to highlight the frailties in our bowling attack. Without a genuine fast bowler and a wrist spinner worth mention, India will continue to struggle to win test matches but on turners where Kumble and Harbhajan can trouble sides. Even though the stats of the spin twins might stack up well even in overseas conditions, the reality is that neither of them have managed to run through the opposition even once on foreign soil and that in itself is a telling indictment. In this day and age, when all international teams bat deep, it is no surprise that that India's bowling attack has rarely managed to bowl out opposition teams (barring Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in overseas conditions) for less than 300. It is a testimony to India's batting prowess that we don't lose a lot of test matches inspite of being under such pressure.
Cricket has become so much of a national obsession that we just can't seem to come to grips with the fact that our nation's cricket team isn't good enough.Undoubtedly, our batsmen are amongst the best in the world, but if we look at our bowling unit we are probably the only prominent test playing unit along with the West Indies without a single match winning bowler.It is precisely the reason why we weren't able to win a test match series in Australia inspite of what Peter Roebuck described as one of the 'best batting exhibitions' ever seen in Australia and also the reason why we conceded 368 runs on a flat Wanderers wicket in the World Cup final thus rendering our batting impotent. This is where a good fielding side can cover up especially in the one day format. New Zealand, South Africa and Zimbabwe have at some stage or the other over the last ten years achieved great success in the shorter format purely due to brilliance in the field.. None of these sides possessed the so called deadly bowlers, Shane Bond being a recent phenomenon and Donald; one well past his prime. This bowling inadequacy has also been the reason why the above mentioned teams have never won the World Cup and why India won't win it in a year's time. There is only so much even a great fielding unit can do for you are always going to stumble across greatness as South Africa did in the form of Lara in '96 and Waugh in '99. When faced with such mediocre bowling units these cricketing gods ensure that you end up playing for a lost cause. Even Chappell has implied that repeatedly stressing upon the improvement not necessarily being a gaurantee to World Cup success. It is in this light that Chappell's changes have to be seen and received. With an offside cordon comprising Raina, Kaif and Yuvraj, India will end up saving more singles, translating into more pressure converting into more desperate shots from batsmen culminating in more wicket taking opportunities; more important than the runs 'The Prince' might score ( a big 'might' considering his present form). It is no mere coincidence that a side completely outplayed by the same opponents not long back is giving it back in no less measure. The thought process behind incorporating young leggie Piyush Chawla and the strapping fast bowler V.R.V Singh in the squad is indicative of a long term vision to make India a test match powerhouse.The new found flexibility is not just a gimmick meant to keep the opposition on its toes but important steps in the process of the deveopment of the likes of Dhoni and Pathan as reliable lower order batsmen, already evident in the test match scenario thus eradicating another of India's achilles heel.
To even think of castigating a person with such foresight is unpardonable and the behaviour of the Kolkata crowd not long back was totally beyond comprehension. A support staff including a biomechanist and a full time software analyst might have been alien to Indian cricket but Chappell, in the company of Ian Frazer and 'Ramki has revolutionised the basic approach to the game. It is no longer just a question of batting, bowling and fielding any longer but a persistent effort at improving reflexes, optimise the use of G-forces, simulating situations and stretching comfort zones. Theories like the 'Del Bono' seven hat system might have fallen flat but Chappell's message and its graveness hasn't been missed out; " perform or perish". There will always be a method to the Chappell madness for he is just one of the few who can be called upon as being the ultimate authority on the game of cricket, the others being Barry Richards, Bob Simpson and Bob Woolmer.Doubts and aspersions regarding his integrity and method of functioning can be cast aside.Chappell can only take Indian cricket forward.