As I read yesterday’s cricket headlines, I could not imagine the amount of bad news that started coming out. It shocked me that there was a problem between the senior members of the team and the team management (Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid). I would have thought it was coach vs the team or some members of the team against some other members of the team, but this clearly seemed like a division in the team.

The sad part is that the “senior” players referred to, were Bajji, Sehwag, Saurav and shockingly, Sachin. I always thought Sachin was the non-political types, but in fact his interview was published by TOI and he started talking when otherwise he would have simply gone home, taken a vacation and came back to practice when required. The other three were close without a doubt, so I don’t doubt that group. But how did Sachin end up in that group? Also, if I were Sachin I would not be speaking out with Bajji and Sehwag because their places in the side have been questioned for the longest time and if some selector with some guts comes to select the team, they are the first 2 I would fire. So it is quite surprising that Sachin first of all is becoming political, and secondly, is ready to be associated with a group of 4 where two are about to be fired from the team.

The next bit of bad news I read this morning is that Greg Chappell has requested that his contract not be extended and it seems to be triggered by Sachin’s interview. I think Greg Chappell was a must-have for this team of babus. I have already written about it in the past and I continue to say so. What the players don’t like about him, behind the scenes, is something I cannot comment on. But if they don’t like his disciplinary attitude and taskmaster-ish ways, then it is silly to protest against him. Of course, if he really is a power-hungry control freak who overrides the captain’s thoughts and ways, I agree, there is no need for him. But I doubt he was like the latter.

The other bad news is that the task force created by the BCCI to talk with the captain and the (ex) coach, contains Sunil Gavaskar. He clearly is not an unbiased party and he should have been left out of it. The report that this task force produces, is not going to be impartial and I for one will certainly “send it to the shredder” without reading it. As a result, there won’t be a decent recommendation for the next steps to be taken. And we will be back to the drawing board, but this time, without anything to write with!

I am not going to talk about the next steps and stuff here (maybe another post later), but I can only hope that we do not go the “old Indian” way or the “Pakistan” way. The old Indian way would be to chop and change and bring the sentimental captain back (Sachin Tendulkar). The Pakistan way would be to make sure there are no foreign coaches in the future. Ever! Neither of these are required, and hope there is some sense in the decision-makers.

Speaking of Sachin Tendulkar, there are a lot of rumors I hear about his performance and his attitude and now of course I read his vocal opposition to the coach’s ways. Is there an agenda? Is there someone pulling some strings behind the scenes? I know he is indebted to Sunil Gavaskar, but could be so bad and completely out of character that he would actually informally “fix” the games so India loses terribly in the World Cup and as a result Greg Chappell ends up having a bad legacy in India and is buried forever? Could he?

And of course, an interesting perk to Sachin in that conspiracy theory is Rahul Dravid may be fired from captaincy and Sachin may end up getting it to end his career as a captain of the team.

I would be very very shocked if that were true, and I would definitely end up NOT watching/following Indian cricket AT ALL. But you know, wonders never cease, especially when we are talking hundreds of crores of rupees!