sunny takes another potshot at chappell

click here

I think Sunny's main problem is - pyaara tendu beta didn't get the opening slot and hence missed out a couple of centuries against bermuda and bangladesh.

Cheers

The Chuckster

Prateeksha and Jalsaa

I am getting bugged of these two names. In case u didn't know these are the names of Amitabh Bacchan's houses (or bunglows ... whatever) at Mumbai. Since his son is marrying Rai babe, the news channels talk about Prateeksha and Jalsaa as if they were the houses of their aunts and uncles.

U can almost see the reporters drooling as they talk about the arrangements for the weddings or the place where the mehndi is supposed to be brought from ... and stuff like that. I am sure one of these reporters will soon come up with a scoop - a picture of Amitabh or Aishwarya Rai going potty ... and splash it on the prime time news network and the anchors will be going - "dekhiye ... kitni sundar aankhen hain unki ... potty jaate waqt bhi kitni jaan hain in aankhon mein".

Sigh!!!

Cheers

The Chuckster

SRT cuts the Indian flag for b'day

This one is delicious ... not just coz of the cake. LMAO @ what we think of as news. Funnier still is how the BCCI guys blame the High Commission who then blames the guy who baked the cake.

Read here

I know it is nitpicking but hey, technically it is right u know.

As I once pointed out in my blog before (yes I acknowledge it as nitpicking) - Click here -, his helmet has the tri-color and there is every chance of his getting hit on the helmet nowadays ... a Brett Lee delivery could rip the flag on his helmet to shreds ... :-) ... would Lee be jailed?

Cheers

The Chuckster

Rahul Dravid, the betrayer

This article talks about what I feel would be the natural feelings of the players, who I have always maintained play for money and not for the pride or whatever nonsense everyone keeps talking about. Remember to take all articles in the media with a pinch of salt ... as something that might be the truth or that might just be a figment of someone's imagination.

Click here

Cheers

The Chuckster

how much time does an ad take anyway?

Over the past two-three days, there have been scores of guys in suits (and a lady too ... some top agent of Percept D Mark or some agency like that) who have been appearing on TV and giving their views on why to accuse the players of spending too much time on commercials is not correct.

"Oh, some of these shoots hardly take 3-4 hours" ... one said ... and another went - "in a complete year, the cricketers spend about 10-15 days in commercials ... is that too much".

While "spending time on shooting the commercials" seems to be the argument going around, I tend to look more at the effect of the endorsements rather than the actual time spent for shooting for it. If a player earns 4 crores (just a random figure ... need not be correct because I really don't have too much experience in dealing with numbers with so many zeroes in them) from commercials and 1.5 crores from cricket (including contract money, match fees etc ... money which comes to him from the BCCI) per year, then why is he really going to work hard on improving his cricket? Once a Virender Sehwag makes it into the team - and this is when he is a nobody ... no sponsors, nothing - and establishes himself over a period of two-three years then he is really in for the long haul ... his performance might go down the drain but the "established" nature of his status in the team will ensure the commercials don't stop for at least 4-5 years. Why would he really work hard then .... does it really matter to him whether India wins or loses ... or if he had dived instead of stretched for that catch, India might have gotten back into the game? Over 4-5 years when his shelf life is present, he will earn enough for his next five generations to have a good life.

I know the cricketers r given the status of saints and desh-bhakts who put their country above all and the money is only a secondary issue ... but for me cricketers r not gods ... they r guys who play cricket better than I do and hence they make a living out of it. If there was a survey in our country as to how many people want to earn more by working less hard than they do, I am sure we would have a nice statistic to look at. No one breaks their back because they want to ... they do it coz it earns them big bucks ... same for me, same for u and same for the Pathans and the Sehwags and the Dhonis.

So the moment u earn 4 crores from ads and 1.5 crores from cricket, u don't need to give a damn about ur cricket except just making sure u do enough to stick onto ur place. People talk stuff like - Ok, so player X scored only 15 but look at player Y ... he scored only 10 ... so u cannot chuck out player X from the squad.

These sentiments are what fuel the cricketers ... once they "establish" themselves, get a horde of "fans", they can live their life in peace ... coz there would be some idiots out there to fight their battles for them if there ever was a threat to their place in the team.

Look at the contract system ... that is a beautiful example. It was brought on to give the players "security" ... against injuries in the course of duty ... to ensure transparency from players in not hiding their injuries ... to make them play at their best without having to worry about getting chucked out next match and losing their match fees. What did it achieve? A set of well fed cricketers earning a couple of crore (excluding endorsements) who do not dive ... who do not come for that extra net session (a la Sehwag in South Africa) and who definitely do not look like they r giving their best out there .... who look like they r out there coz it says in their contract - "u r supposed to go out onto the field ... bat ... and bowl ... and field" ... so hey, Ok, I am out there.

BCCI sucks ... so do the players. Today it is the BCCI who in a fit of populism (I don't see any funeral marches because of these decisions) has thrown the kitchen sink at the players .... tomorrow, there will be something that fixes the BCCI itself ... one year later? two years later? ten years later? I don't know ... but I am willing to take it when it comes. If it sounds unfair that the players get hit but the BCCI doesn't get hurt ... too bad, life isn't fair. Just because everyone didn't get their desserts, it doesn't mean no one should get their desserts.

On a final note - the players r still gonna be earning crores ... and the experts on TV (rather than the common man) thinks they r getting a raw deal.

Hmmmm!

How long should I spend in the middle?

This article is self-explanatory .... and if someone is telling me that the players are too desh-bhakt for small things like this to affect their service towards the nation, then I ask that person to go for a mental check up.

Wouldn't it be simpler for the player to say - I play for India ... u take me coz I play well. How long I play depends on the situation on the field ... and thus a clause like this makes no sense. So we will not have it.

http://www.indianexpress.com/iep/sunday/story/27810.html

I hope one of these nosy TV channels will have some expose on whose contract actually has this clause. Coz I really hope SRT's contract doesn't have it ... I have more than once had the bewilderment of seeing the man try to save a test match by defending tooth and nail when a slightly enterprising approach might take the team towards victory. I have admired this man too long (though I don't today) and I would really be hurt if his contract had this stipulation.

How many seniors are there anyways?

Cheers

The Chuckster

Dhoni not a darling anymore among his fellow Jharkhandis

Saw this story on star news a while back ... was too good not to share.

So there is Mahender Singh Dhoni, apna puttar from backward Jharkhand who became a star. He got alloted land by the govt and decided to make this huge house there (they showed the plot of land and believe me u, five of us could make our hosues there ... of course, i don't know the size in square yards etc but it looked bloody big).

so everyone was happy that apna puttar had put their state on the map and nothing he might do could be termed wrong. except the neighbors who have their houses besides the place where his house is coming up. seems Dhoni bhaiya likes swimming and decided to keep a swimming pool in his house ... what is a house without a swimming pool, hain na?

so he dug four borewells in his land .... so he could keep the water in his swimming pool nice and fresh. one, two, three .... four bloody borewells. And that pissed off his neighbors like hell. I don't know Jharkhand but if it is somethign like Hyderabad, summer is gonna make u struggle for water ... and there is this chap with four borewells around ur land taking all the ground water for his swimming pool.

seems a complaint has been lodged ... if star news lets me know what happens next, i will be sure to pass it on.

Cheers

The Chuckster

Number crunching ... that they earned and what they will earn

Note - I cannot vouch for these numbers ... just reporting what I heard on TV.

the news channels r freaking out with all the steps announced by the BCCI today. I too have many comments but it is too much to be written now. Now will just try to put up a couple of short items I got from news channels and bring up something big a bit later.

I think it was headlines today that gave this statistic. They compared the old payment system and the new payment system keepingn in mind the last one year. By the old contract calculation, the grade A players made around 1 crore 40 lakhs in the last one year through their contract fees, match fees etc (note - this does not include endorsement money). grade b players made 1 crore 5 lakhs or so. grade c players made 88 lakhs or so.

so they again calculated the money the same players would earn in the coming year if they played the same amount of matches with the same results as were achieved in the last year. Hold ur breath .... grade A, grade B and Grade C players, since they all now earn the same and there is nothing called a grade anymore .... would earn a grand total of 48 lakhs in the entire year keeping in mind their performance (wins / losses etc). they then changed the statistic and said - immagine the team won all the series played last year. according to the new payment system, all players would now earn .... hold ur breaths again .... around 70 lakhs.

ha ha ha ha .... i think tonight there r gonna be some sooooooooo pissed players. Man, I for one wouldn't be surprised if there is a player revolt (the only thing i doubt is who has the balls to lead one .... except for Ganguly, I really doubt anyone else has) or strike or something. it is not as if the money is less or something ... but this is a major rap on the knuckles for the players .... the board is basically saying a statement - we think u r overpaid losers.

Of course the board itself is no Saint Mary but that is another story. Man, I expect fireworks.

Cheers

The Chuckster

So what do I think?

For me, I am all for most of the steps taken by the BCCI ... I know the BCCI comes out of this smelling of roses and it doesn't deserve that coz it stinks as much as the players do ... but I have one belief ... nothing works perfectly ... to have the players get their butts kicked for treating the Indian team like their personal playground and to get the BCCI's ass kicked for treating Indian cricket according to their whims and fancies. I never believed all this was possible ... hey, i never even believed 1% of this would be possible.

so when the experts on TV are complaining aboutt the BCCI making the players a scapegoat in order to deflect attention from their own dirty house whhich they have made no effort to put in order, I fully appreciate the feeling ... but I also feel that it is ok .... life is not fair ... it isn't about being nice to everyone and living happily ever after ... it is about getting some honour back into the game ... at least let the players play their asses off for the extra 3 lacs they get for a series win ... I have full belief that they wouldn't do so for the country or whatever shit the experts keep barking about. as for the BCCI getting its dose .... well, bhagwaan hai ... sab dekh raha hai ... unka bhi number aaega ... someday sometime (hey, Subhash Chandra might well be it).

So now the BCCI is the only body authorized to run cricket in India .... as the supreme court pointed out (and viciously disputed by the BCCI lawyer in court), this is the Indian cricket team coz a billion Indians believe it to be the Indian cricket team. [Note to all of those who once wrote to me by mail accusing me of stupidity when I pointed this out in a Rediff article titled "Love Tendulkar for who he was" ..... to this day, the case is still in court and BCCI still says they don't select an Indian national cricket team .... don't believe me; get someone trustworthy u know to check the facts]. So now we have the Indian cricket team selected by the BCCI ... and whatever team Subhash Chandra's Zee network selects, it cannot be the Indian team too .... :-) .... so when the BCCI cuts pay and Zee offers more than what they were even getting before under the cushy contract system, how many deshbhakt cricketers will jump ship .... I wonder.

I don't expect it to happen soon ... I expect there to be a bitter battle between players and the BCCI ... but with Zee out there showing the money, it is gonna be one hell of a temptation. One side ... the honour of being in the "Indian team" with less money; and on the other side being in a "non Indian team" with more money. Hmmmmmmm ... how will that one go?

LOL, I love this,

Cheers

The Chuckster

Shastri is the coach ... err, no he is the manager

For all the bad things that could have happened in this BCCI meet (and a lot of it was plain bakwaas), the Chuckster is seeing one silver lining.

In one aspect, I have always disagreed with many "experts" on TV. My take is - the players play because they get a lot of money to. They aren't really doing it for the country ... they do it for the greens (I don't mean vegetables). Nothing wrong in it but the rest of the country (and the experts in general) insists on calling it a service to the country.

My take is - u need to kick the player's ass every now and then to make them perform. It doesn't matter whether it is a big player or a small player; once u drop him from the team for a series or two, he will come back a better player if he is good enough; he will fade enough if indeed he is not good enough. Dropping a player fromm the team is not an "insult" to him. it is not his bloody birthright to be in that team. Ganguly and Zaheer are examples of guys whose ass got kicked out of the team ... and made them realize how much they want to be in the team. Enough to actually concentrate on their cricket and try hard. Zaheer Khan's butt size has now reduced to similar lines of when he came into the team initially. Just before he was kicked out, he was beginning to resemble Jennifer Lopez in terms of butt size. It wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been kicked out. Similarly with Ganguly who is not the Ganguly today who was the world's best ODI batsman some years back ... but also not the Ganguly who was a "bhoj" on the team when he got kicked out. Today he is focussed on his cricket and though his brilliant years seem to be behind him, seeinng him in the 11 doesn't seem ma cruel joke now. Again, it took a swift kick on his pants to achieve this focus.

Greg Chappell failed coz he tried to kick player's asses. An Indian might try and fail (99% woulf fail) but a foreigner wuld definitely fail because of our jingoistic attitude. Reverse of "white skin fascination" takes place in strong, independent India and we try to take every point the white skinned guy gives and say - "what crap" - even if it makes sense. Damn, we can't have the white man teaching us sommething ... even if we don't know it ourselves.

Ok, now to the silver lining. Of all the jokers who could have becomome the cricket coach (now they call it manager ... lol), the job goes to Ravi Shastri ... and frankly, of all the choices, the Chuckster likes this one the best. The Madan Lals and Gaekwads and Mohinder Amarnaths could have become the coach ... no one would have respected them and they would have kissed player's asses because that would let them keep their jobs. How much do the Amarnaths and the Madan Lals and the Gaekwads earn today .... whatever it might be, it would be peanuts compared to the coach's salary. So obviously, their benefit is in actually holding onto the seat with both hands wrapped tight around it. Indian cricket would never improve because the "nikkame", lazy players would continue to play their cricket the way they want to .... with maximum returns (in terms of contractd and endorsements) and minimum effort.

Ravi Shastri is a different kettle of fish altogether. The man has a flourishing career inn the media ... yes,, the coach's job might still pay more than what he makes but not so much that he has to swallow his pride to keep it. Hey, if he is not the coach, he can still go back to that great job with ESPN and SONY and everyone else (one thing i always admired about Shastri ... his acumen in associating himself with all channels ... unlike say a Gavaskar who is totally a ESPN / STAR man). Ravi Shastri iis also supposed to be (I could be wrong but this is the impression I have) a man who calls a spade a spade and who doesn't stand too much nonsense.

The players might finnd that themselves facing the same problems as they had under Chappell ... they can't continue being lazy and indifferent without getting hauled up ... coz if Shastri takes up the job, it is also a reputation thing for him .... Kapil Dev might still have 432 wickets but his name will also be always associated with being one of the failures in the Indian cricket coach's job. Shastri might also join that long list ... and for a man who is highly successful in the media, I am sure he will try his damndest to get the same success in the new job. The players performance affects Shastri directly coz unnless they care, his record suffers. So he is definnitely gonna be expecting a lot from the players .... maybe more than they might be willing to offer in terms of effort and commitment.

The good part is - no one can now claim about the big, bad foreiner runing Indian cricket .... even if the crickters complainn again, it is an Indian guy who is doing the ass kicking now ... and if the same players fall foul of the Indian coach,the world will know the foreigner wasn't so incorrect after all.

There was a lot of bakwaas in the BCCI meeting ... about improvinng domestic cricket and making players play domestic cricket and setting up zonnal academimes etc etc etc (u must have read the samme articles i did). My dog could have given the same suggestions only he knows he can spend his time better in digging for his bones.

But the thing I liked is - the new coach is Indian ... and his attitude might just be very similar to the foreigner's inn terms of how much crap he tolerates.

Of course, Shastri's appointment is only till the Bangladesh series ... and that is stupid coz u really cannnot judge anything after a series against Bangladesh. But then, we have to be glad for small mercies.

Mr. Ravi Shastri, for putting ur hand up when u didn't really have to (a la one Mr. Gavaskar), kudos. Only, Bangladesh is not really the series which will give any answers .... we can send me as the coach and still beat Bangladesh .... the rest of the cricket season after the Bangladesh would be pretty busy when we will play the bigger boys of international cricket. I hope u stick around till then. Somehow, I feel u will .... coz u didn't have to do it now if u didn't want to do it then.

Heh heh ... the Sehwags and Zaheers and Bhajjis might not be feeling that victorious right now.

Cheers

The Chuckster

it was the big bad coach who took away my mojo

So there r all these idiots on TV who say that Pathan, Sehwag, Harbhajan etc are ruined by Chappell. His ways r wierd, they say. Junping on chairs and crawling under tables and wearing different colored hats is as important as practicing bowling / batting etc.

I wonder if people remember a guy named Shane Warne who also is not exactly enamoured by the coaching methods of his team's coach, one Mr. John Buchanan. In fact, there has been a public deplorement of the coach's methods by the bowler more than once. And there is this batsman who might be considered the best batsman in the world today, Mr. Ricky Ponting, who has a different view on the coach ... he thinks he is doing a pretty good job. The coach who has a record now that might never be matched by another coach ... and a leg spinner whose records might again never be matched by any other leg spinner. Who is right and who is wrong?

This is somewhat similar to the Indian scenario .... who is right? The Bhajjis and Sehwags and Zaheers or the Chappels?

Debates might never end but it is important to note one thing here. Shane Warne doesn't like his coach's methods ... neither do Bhajji, Sehwag, Zaheer, etc .... Ponting does like this coach's ways. However, when Shane Warne and Pontinng come onto the field to do what they get paid for, they always perform as expected or better than expected. The Sehwags and Pathans and Zaheers and Bhajjis screw up most of the time.

Shane Warne doesn't have to explain why the coach bothers him so much ... he can just made a sarcastic comment or two and shut up. Coz when he steps onto the field, no one can really question him; his performance ensures that. However, with the Indian players, it is different ... the whole country wonders about the coach's methods simply coz the players screw up big time. If Sehwag scores his runs and Bhajji takes his wickets, the question about Greg's methods really become irrelevant.

In the end, it is upto the pllayer. Shane Warne is good enough. These Indian paper tigers aren't ... so the hide behind the allegations ... oh, he made me crawl under chairs ... oh, he is such a mean man ... we r all scared of him ... if u get two minutes late for practice, he leaves u out of it. Oooh ooohhh ... whine whine. That is why I haven't been able to perform ... that is why I haven't scored a 50 in the past 50 matches .... that is why after the year 2000 when I destroyed Australia, I really haven't done anything of note. It isn't because I am not good enough. It is because of that nasty coach and his methods.

And the public laps it up. We aren't like the Australian team because there is no incentive to be. Cry a sad tale and twenty five TV channels will pick up the cause (till yesterday they would be bashing the samme player because of some other cause).

We don't deserve better!

Cheers

The Chuckster

Thanks, Mr. Kapil Dev

Don't remember which channel it was ... NDTV or CNN-IBN or what ... but Kapil Dev who was giving expert comments made a very clear and lucid statement - I think Sunil Gavaskar should become the coach of the Indian team.

A big name like Kapil says it ... and on live television ... and Indian cricket is going through so much of muck. Though Gavaskar will try his best to wriggle out of it, he would be hard pressed to do that and still come out sounding like the desh-bhakt that he portrays himself to be.

One thing to thank Kapil for .... Gavaskar was always a choice and the fact that we r all wondering who the coach would be is only coz Gavaskar doesn't touch the position ... it is like SRT among the playing cricketers today ... once he says something or asks something, there is really no one in Indian cricket establishment today who can refuse it to him. Say Gavaskar says - "I would take up the job if offered to me", I bet there is not one administrator who would dare to look around for other options. Coz Gavaskar is just too big a name. However, Gavaskar has never been the coach and never been among the hopefuls either coz he probably doesn't want to do it ... think of it, it is a madcap job. There might be funeral processions take out in his honour and pictures broadcast on TV of fans beating his poster with chappells ... ooops ... chappals and joote.

Even earlier, when the Indian cricket fan was not so mad, Gavaskar could have got the job anytime but he always cited "other" commitments. Namely, the ability to criticize one and all in his commentary and his columns and being the wise man who knows everything .... without having any accountability. Hey, he belongs to the media and he can give his comments and thoughts "after" the match is over as compared to "before" the match as the captain / coach have to do.

Now Kapil has taken his name, I am sure our Indian channels will lose no effort in tom-tom'ing his name all over the place ... and it will become a question of "saving" Indian cricket. I still think Gavaskar will wriggle out of it but Kapil's taking his name has now shifted so much of focus on him that it will be a hard act ... wriggling out with his desh-bhakt image still intact.

Or he might just accept???? Man, that would be awesome .... just because for one I want to see Gavaskar do something for which there needs to be some results and some accountability.

If only wishes came true .... :-)

Cheers

The Chuckster

So Chappel goes. Wasn't it inevitable?

After the world cup whitewash, it was inevitable that a few heads would have to roll and frankly, Chappell's was the easiest to chop off. No one would take out protest rallies, no one would burn posters or effigies. Hey, he isn't a Bengali or a Marathi or a Tamil ... so who cares?

What surprises me is the drama that has surrounded his resignation. His relevations (not yet confirmed but only rumours as of today) about the senior players ... Sachin's outburst in return. What was a pile of garbage earlier has now started stinking big time.

The nation seems to be shocked at the mention of the seniors, including Sachin, being the kind of guys who would keep the juniors down and who would act against the interests of the team. That is an interesting thought. I am not saying that Ganguly or Sehwag or Harbhajan kept anyone down ... but in a game which earns them millions every year, if they really push someone down to ensure they keep getting the paycheques, is that so difficult to believe? I know these are good cricketers, but by and large, the media seems to be giving them the image of saints, who would never hurt younger players and who would always have the country's interests at heart. But why?

If Ganguly thought (relax, guys ... just an example) that Suresh Raina was a better bet than him, is someone telling me seriously that Ganguly would step asisde and say "take him and not me ... he is the better man"???? No way, absolutely no way.

See, leave aside the allegations right now ... whether Sachin is right or Chappell is or Harbhajan is ... that is different. Let us get something very clear here ... the players play cricket not because their chests swell with pride at the thought of representing India but coz the game pays so bloody well. There is nothing wrong in it but what I mean is - if they were smart enough to be doctors or engineers or scientists, they would be doctors or engineers or scientists. Their talents lie in cricket and cricket pays well and so they r cricketers ... there is nothing more or less to it. Representing their country might give an extra dose of "high" but that would just be a perk ... not the reason itself. So let's not bring in their service to the nation and all that into all this. If Tendulkar has played 17 years and Ganguly has played 10 years then it doesn't mean that their commitment and pride at representing the country is beyond doubt ... it just means that they played cricket well enough to hold their spots for 16 and 10 years respectively.

So when Tendulkar says - "I have sweated blah blah for 17 years" ... great, u did and no one doubts it. However, that is not the point. The point made by Chappell was (again, not confirmed but through media reports) that the seniors were keeping the juniors down. It is definitely possible to keep someone down and still excel at one's job ... the two are unrelated.

Anyways, once SRT's outburst came up, it was curtains for Chappell .... personally I feel he wouldn't have been coach after the April 6-7 meeting, but once SRT spoke out, Chappell's fate was sealed. He didn't really have to wait to see what the BCCI would say ... if SRT gives a bad comment on anyone, that person really has no future left in Indian cricket.

In one way, I am happy Chappell is leaving. I had a lot of expectations from him and I think he had the right ideas in his mind ... bring forward youth ... look for attitude over anything else ... focus on processes ... etc etc etc. But it also became clear over time that the Indian cricketers, for whatever reason, were just not buying into that vision. e.g. - if Greg C wants them to dive around like the Australians, Sri Lankans, South Africans, Bangladeshis .... hey, almost everyone else except India .... then that wasn't going to happen. If he wanted SRT to bat in the middle order, hey SRT made sure everyone knew he didn't like the idea. It is also clear that come a standoff, no one in Indian cricket has the power to touch the biggies like SRT, Ganguly etc. So Chappell was bound to lose.

I still believe that SRT is the biggest factor here ... let all other 14 members of the squad of 15 who went to the Windies have complaints against Greg C. If just SRT had supported Chappell, Chappell would have won. Once SRT decided to go against him, Chappell didn't have a chance.

Anyways, this leaves open the question of - who would be the next coach. Sandeep Patil, who is one of the hopefuls, couldn't keep a huge smile off his face on the Star News program where he gives expert comments, even as he kept saying "this is a sad day for Indian cricket". I am sure the right noises would be made about Gavaskar but I am also sure that Gavaskar would not be the coach. I really doubt if any of the foreigners would be willing to touch India now .... even though Dave Whatmore and John Wright r supposed to be among the hopefuls too. But whoever it is, it has to be someone who is willing to bow to the player's demands ... else they will go the same way as Chappell did. In that sense, an Indian coach would be the best ... coz no one would respect him anyways and he wouldn't expect any respect either ... so there would be no clashes of ego etc. Unless Gavaskar or Ravi Shastri becomes the coach ... coz these guys have made their own careers in the media and entertainment sector ... where they make a lot of money. They don't need to come as the coach of the Indian team and take crap. However, the Mohider Amarnaths and the Sandeep Patils r different ... what they have today would be peanuts compared to what they would get as Indian coach ... if they have to swallow their pride, so what is the big deal anyways.

I look forward to April 6-7 ... and Greg Chappel, I think u would have been great for Indian cricket ... but Indian cricket proved to be too tough a nut to crack.

Cheers

The Chuckster

What a mess!!!

Lots of things to write about but no time. Fights between Chappell and the seniors and formation of the parallel cricket league by the Essel Group guys.

I tried to get the link to an article I read yesterday, which detailed a story about how Agarkar and Zaheer told Sreesanth to bounce Ganguly in the nets whereas the batsman had specifically asked the bowlers to bowl full length deliveries so he could practice his driving. So Sreesanth checks out with Ganguly as to whether he wants short pitch bowling and gets told off ... and tells Ganguly that Agarkar / Zaheer were the ones who told him he wanted the bowlers to bowl short pitch. This soured relations between Sreesanth and Zaheer / Agarkar. I will try and see if I can provide the link later, if I get it.

Till I get the time to pen down some thoughts, here are some good links to chew on (Note - all these stories should be taken with a pinch of salt as no one really knows what is going on) -

Story 1

Story 2

Story 3

Story 4

Story 5

Story 6

Story 7

Story 8

Story 9