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End of a mission

When Greg Chappell, one of cricket's batting greats — 7110 runs in 87 Tests at 53.86 — and among the game's finest thinkers, took over 22 months ago from the quietly successful New Zealander, John Wright, as coach of the Indian cricket team, the outlook seemed strongly positive. To a superficial observer, Indian cricket seemed ready to move into higher gear, to a higher level of consistent performance. As Ian Chappell has pointed out, his brother was hired for his knowledge and experience as an Australian cricketer — attributes expected to help Team India find the elusive strategic edge. If this did not happen, it was not Chappell who was at fault, but a combination of circumstances not unfamiliar in the context of South Asian cricket. As coach, the 58-year-old South Australian batted as straight as he did in his playing prime. He was independent, honest, objective, professionally upstanding — and above all insisted on speaking truth to power. That power turned out to be a coalition of interests hard to crack: a highly talented but top-heavy team in decline; a confederacy of seniors who, through exceptional past performances, had reached dizzying heights of superstardom rewarded by unimaginable riches and were unwilling to give up their hold on Indian cricket in their decline; status quoist resistance to innovative attempts to improve physical and mental fitness and to new demands in such vital areas as fielding and running between wickets; the Byzantine make-up and functioning of the world's richest cricket control body; and the despotic power and influence of hyper-commercialism in a gigantic market over the game, especially over such critical matters as team selection and tactics. Lord Acton's dictum on the corrupting effects of power applies perfectly to Indian cricket.

Chappell's decision not to seek an extension of his coaching contract with the Board of Control for Cricket in India now seems foreordained. The Indian cricket system is the opposite of the progressive, don't-care-for-seniority-or-reputation Australian model that has produced world-beating sides. Chappell had little time for celebrity, a lot for talented young men who, in his view, represented the future of Indian cricket. This is a point he has emphasised in a tour de force of a report to the Board in Mumbai. In the gritty task of reform and restructuring he attempted, Chappell seems to have found a kindred spirit in India's captain, Rahul Dravid. For a while, the new vision and methods translated into results as India put together a world record string (17) of ODI run chases and played with greater confidence and success in Tests overseas. However, the trends of decline, reflecting the natural ageing process, combined with a deeply flawed system and hyper-commercialisation to defeat the sincere efforts of the Chappell-Dravid partnership. The future of Indian cricket lies in learning from this experience and implementing the progressive reforms envisioned by Chappell and some others who think like him.

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