No matter who

Sujata Prakash

I've been a little out of touch with Indian cricket, having spent the last three weeks in England. Apart from Kapil's resignation, Illingworth's tearful farewell and the English cricket team's never ending self-congratulatory dance around the crushed West Indians, nothing much else leaked through in the press.

On my return home one of the bits of news which caught the eye was Saurav Ganguly declaring that Kapil's resignation was 'his problem' and adding, 'Frankly, it doesn't matter who the coach is.'

Now that statement can give rise to various extrapolations. To start with, haven't we all, experts as well as laymen, been declaring till hoarse, that the Indian teams ills could only be redressed by a good coach? What was all the hullaballo about anyway, if it doesn't matter who the coach is? Kapil Dev or Geoff Marsh or Johnny Lever, take your pick mate, it's just the same rose by another name.

But Ganguly is a forthrite bloke, and intelligent enough to know what he's saying. I'm surprised this is not getting the media attention it deserves. Unfortunately, he did not elaborate further, which is not surprising given the Indian custom of dropping subtle hints only thereby avoiding possible future reprisal, and which leaves us to fill in the blanks.

So, he could have said what he did in the manner of a good captain who is willing to take responsibility for the team's practice sessions, moulding the debutants, ensuring that the top three batsmen, himself included, carry the batting and rotate the strike diligently, and in short, win the next World Cup with or without a coach. Now Ganguly may be confident, some would say arrogant, but even he wouldn't over estimate his capabilities to such an extent.

Which leaves us to think that maybe he was disillusioned enough (already?) to believe that even the best foreign coach that money could buy would not be able to change the fortunes of his team. Understandable. For one, who is going to coach the BCCI to stop doing what it does so well: meddle when completely unnecessary and not meddle when it is necessary? And what is the point of having a government which indulges in selective targeting of suspected match fixers?

Jagmohan Dalmiya's impressive clout is only now being fully inderstood, for he seems to have got away with a light rap on the knuckles. It only confirms what the world feels, that in India the good of cricket takes a back seat to politics. Bishen Singh Bedi wrote that he was depressed to see Polly Umrigar 'sirring' a total nincompoop in the BCCI who had got in on the strength of his political clout. In such an atmosphere, how can a sport, and sportsmen, flourish? And most importantly, how can any coach, long deemed to be a nominal head with the real boss being people like Lele, work any kind of wonder?

A last conjecture would be that Ganguly has such little faith in the players, collectively, that he sees the writing on the wall which for any coach to change is going to be a Herculean task. King sized egos makes instilling discipline a battle, lazy nonchalance greets fitness training, lack of application shows in performance, and a general reluctance to play as a team compounds problems further. Combine that with the constant shuffling of players, like the selectors were dealing with a pack of cards rather than a team, and you'll cease to feel amazed if Ganguly actually does feel all this deep down.

Indeed it's not a pretty sight at all, the current scenario. Gaekwad has reinherited a team whose captain has shrugged off even temporary benefit being derived from his sagacity. Perhaps he echoes Ganguly's delusive words to himself too -- 'Frankly, it makes no difference if I coach or not.' Perhaps before the board advertises for a cricket coach, the caption should read, 'Wanted, a magician to set the house in order, to get some method into the madness, and to make us believe we could do with a good coach, Indian or foreign.'