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.