Chappel vs Ganguly : Online Diary

Dec 21, 2006

Been some time : but then Ganguly was out of the team. His grit and determination has helped him overcome any techincal short comings. However it was sad to see him not framing the stike in end of the first innings. Lukcy for India (and Gangs) that VRV managed the lusty blows in the end. His second innings termination was disappointing. Will be interesting to see what happens once Yuvi is fit. Will he have to wait again ?

Nov 28th

Dravid reaction to Calcutta has been :

Luckily I was not fielding on the boundary line like others who had to put up with the abuses. I told the others jokingly that we are in good company, in the company of the great Sunil Gavaskar who too had to face a similar reception in Kolkata along with the 1983 World Cup winning team. If that side could get booed, I think we're doing something right

He seems to have climbed down from his earlier stance of saying he has a lot of support in Calcutta.



Nov 26th (night time!!)

Some interesting comments from Harsha Bhogle and Gary Kirsten

The same committee that was bringing in fresh air has succumbed. They have displayed their weakness by calling Ganguly a “bowling all-rounder” or a “batting all-rounder” or both. They could have called him a reserve wicket keeper and wouldn’t have been much further off reality. The last time we heard something as funny was when Shane Warne said he took a diuretic because his mother asked him to.--- Harsh Bhogle

http://cricket.expressindia.com/fulliestory.php?content_id=82639


It was a very un-Indian kind of strip and I was very, very surprised. Indians do not play their cricket on such kind of wickets, they prefer the flatter types, where spinners come into business and even fast bowlers are conditioned to bowl in a certain style. But this one was right up South Africa's alley. Shaun Pollock must have been licking his lips and offering words of gratitude to the groundsman.
If indeed it was Kolkata's way of showing their anger at the omission of their most beloved son from the squad, it was strange and sad. A region or a country should not lose purpose or the bigger goal and must plan accordingly -- Gary Kirsten http://cricket.expressindia.com/fulleistory.php?source=cn&content_id=58972


Nov 26th

It's Chappel's finger which is in the news now. A reaction to the Bengali crowd behaviour.

Frankly the response of Calcutta to Ganguly's omission has been shocking. I have had great respect and admiration for the culture and contribution on Bengal, but for once they have clearly put Bengal above India : which is not acceptable at all.

If the Nagpur fiasco was part 1 in preparing a pitch for the Aussies, Calcutta has paid back in kind. Dravid had the character not to pick up an injury as Ganguly did in Nagpur. And the support he got from the Indian team when Shastri had the post match conversation with him shows the team is right behind him.

I dare Calcutta to prepare a Green Top when the Lankans come there in Dec is Saurav is in the playing XI. Though I am sure they will if Saurav is played as the 12th man.

Chennai should be an interesting outing, esp if Saurav is in the playing XI. If Saurav causes rifts in the team or breaks the team unity : it should be enough of a reason to see him forces into retirement.

Oct 10th, Monday

All out War on the Board ? First Yuvi makes some statments on the taboo subject. Instead of calling him for an inquiry like Bhajji was, he gets away. And to top it, PCA says onus on BCCI. An obvious bait. BCCI can't do much since they did not gag Ganguly in the first place. If they try and take action against Yuvi, we will be in for some fun.

Now the selection comittee has asked for guidelines to select the captain. Gangs has declared himself that he will be fit in 10 days. As per the BCCI rules, a player coming back from injury has to play at the domestic level first. Now what will BCCI do. Force Ganguly to test his 'hurt' elbow ? It gets murkier and more interesting.

Oct 4th, Tuesday

Is it a surpise that there are reports of injruies to Ganguly or should we start sympathising with him ? When ever there is something critical that is coming up (critical from his career's point of view), some body part comes to his rescue (say Nagpur when he saw a Green Wicket).

The ploy seems to be obvious. If he plays in Challenger and fails, there is a good chance that he does not make it to the team. So I think he would prefer taking his chances against Lanka on a feather bed track where he could get a 50 or something. I predict if he gets a 50 within the first few games he will sitout of the remaining (esp if India is 0-2 down or something : let Dravid do the honors of congratulating Lanka for winning the series)

Sept 28h, Wednesday

No hope at all......if Chappel's report was rubbish he should have been sacked.

And the biggest joke has been Mahindar coming out and saying from now on Team Selection will be on Performance . What was the criteria till now ? (Guess he needs to check that with Dalmiya !!!)


Sept 27th, Tuesday
Compromise ? What the heck ? Why should Chappel do that ? This country has no hope .

Silver lining for a Sachin fan like me...he may be back at the helm as the captain. Hopefully that would help his batting, and inspire India to greater hts (?)

Sept 26th, Monday

A day before the drama restarts in Mumbai. Read Greg's mail on www.crickinfo.com. Is a real good one. Just reading what Gangs did to Laxman, how can a skipper do that !!!

Sep 25th , Sunday

How can any sane person even think of supporting Ganguly. I could give some concession to the passionate Bengalis (I am confident they will come around some time , sooner than later I hope).
Sidhu for once sounds sane (after some time).

One thing is clear : all non performing 'ass'ests of the team want Greg out. Bhajji who is a pale shadow of his previous avtaar, comes out strongly in Gangs favour.