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Bad elements need to be removed. They are exploiting press to bring Chappell down. Secret discussions, secret emails are leaked out to press to show chappell in poor light.

I think whole charade staged by Ganguly has been bought by some people by the look of it. Moment Ganguly found out that there is going to be a review panel, and chappel is going to be a part of it he wanted to know before hand where exactly Ganguly stands directly from chappell instead of getting it from the selectors! So he wanted to sit down and hav e a talk with chappell. He sought an honest opinion. He got an honest opinion straight from chappell. After learning from chappell that his career is seeing the end of the tunnel, he pulled out this stunt to gain some sympathy from some "fans"!!

Ganguly has achieved this mission 5% successfully. I mean some 5% people still support him based on what he did in 1999!!

Do not keep using the name of Ganguly for India's success! Did you guys ever think of the fact that at the same time Ganguly was appointed, Wright was appointed as the first foreign coach of India. Did you guys ever thank the effort of Wright to instil the importance of fitness among players? Just coz Wright decided to sit back not wanting the limelight we should not forget him. Some fine individual achievements coupled with Wright's contribution at various levels Ganguly enjoyed his glory. So don't use those things as an excuse for further extension of his career.

I look at this way.. Who started it all? Ganguly one and one mr. Ganguly. He should own up the responsibility for this utter chaotic situation. I know it is a calculated move to extend his career.

Just imagine for one second.... Had Ganguly not told the press...?

Everything would have been running smoothly. One fine day we would have found that Ganguly is sacked. That is the way things work. But it is Ganguly who chose to make this calculated manipulative move. So he is answerable for the whole confusion. Why would chappell accuse a player for nohing? Does he gain anything? Does he really get more money? No. His agendas are crystal clear. Build a solid team for 2007 world cup. So he would use all his methods to achieve that.

As long as India wins i am not going to ask which tom, dick, harry are playing. That is the whole objective of a game.. isn't it? WIN. Objective of the game is not whether Ganguly should be in or not.

Hi

Id have to disagree with you on one point - that had Ganguly not come out in the open about it, everything would have gone on smoothly. I dont think it wuld have. Of course, what he has done has made the matter worse - or better, depending on whether you are Saurav Ganguly or not.

The root of the problem lies in the fact that he feels entitled to a place in the team despite a continually poor run of test far dating back to atleast 5 years, and an especially poor run in the past 18 months. Even two years ago a batsman with a career test average of 40 would have been hard pressed to justify his place in the best middle order in the world of cricket but India was winning then and his leadership was truly inspirational. Now with an average closer to 25 over the last 18 months ( discounting the weakling opposition ), the position has become absolutely untenable.

But sometimes when you think of it, one really cant blame Saurav for expecting a free ride for so long. He certainly has done a lot more for Indian cricket than say Agarkar, and if Ajit can be continually picked then why not him? Atleast thats what he must be thinking. Not to mention him having more powerful connections.

Quoted message from Pineapples

What he thinks is not important here.. What is good for India is important here. If it is good that Ganguly leaves then he should leave. He was a successful one day player for a four year period. At the time he assumed the captaincy agreed Indian team was in tatters. At the same time India appointed Wright as coach. Wright's impartial approach really kicked off Indian cricket. Ganguly backed Harbhajan singh. That is the only thing he did that turned out successful. All the other players he backed deserved to play at that point. I don't think Ganguly deserves 100% accolades for India's brief success overseas. Wright played a big part in keeping them fit and fighting. Even assuming he was the entire reason for India's success, he doesn't deserve a place as a batsman in the team. A captain is only as good as team. If the team is bad captain will also look bad. Look at Ponting now. When he won world cup everyone going up and down. Now some people are crying for his head. Just one series loss. India lost some 14 finals. India could not win a series over weak pakistan team coz of his zip code like scores 1,2, 12, 21. He was even getting bowled by a fulltoss. His prodding and swishing outside the off-stump against quick bowlers is a painful sight to watch. India with rich tradition of cricket, is producing 1000s of quality players at all levels. Defenitely atleast 500 of them would be doing a better job as batsman for India. Why is he blocking young talents just coz he won more matches for India?

I always thought that indian cricket was run by democratic elected people but this chapple-gang saga suggests otherwise.to me ganguly should have been dropped 18 months ago.look at steve waugh how he wanted to go to india last year but there is no place for sentiments in sport.

I dont know whether there are any pros, if at all. There certainly arent any pros in terms of pure playing ability.

In his madness to extend his tenure in the team, Saurav is probably not realising how quickly and terribly he is ruining his legacy, one that he worked so hard to build.

If I had a penny for everytime Ive heard an Indian fan say in the last week - " I used to be a Ganguly fan, but now..."

This posting has been hidden during moderation because it broke the House Rules in some way.

There is always a shaky period in a team's make up when the old guard give way to the new. Its happening with the mighty Aussies now.

For India, its time to leverage the talents at our disposal.

A batting line up that was once 2nd only to Australia, and now a powerful attack, India should not be crawling to a victory over zimbabwe. It should romp to one easily.

Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Laxman, Yuvraj, Kaif
Karthik, Pathan, Harbajan, Balaji, Kahn.

That is a pretty strong line up isn't it? The key is, Ganguly would drop one of the middle orders so that he can step in. But what happens when Tendulkar returns? I would imagine even ST would want to give India a chance to steel the new talent competitively.

Greatness knows when to encourage talent and when to sit back on results past and say to all comers - look at what I did.

Its when greatness tries to rely on poor current performances as justification to remain in a side, its when it gets pitiful.

No one would doubt Ganguly's place in Indian cricket history, but this shananigans is really sinking his name fast.

Karthik,

You rightly pointed. I still remeber that India/Pakistan series.

Indian played well in Pakistan under Srikanth.Srikanth was more inspiring than Ganguly by any day.He failed there with a bat and the selection commitee sacked Srikanth.

How come Ganguly still surviving as captain.Whole India knows now.

I disagree with you Karthik. People are just pissed off with Ganguly's recent form and thats the only reason why all are supporting Greg. Observe carefully what Greg mentioned in his email:

1. "I enquired with a number of the players as to what they had thought of Sourav's retirement".
-> Greg accuses Saurav of a divide/rule. Now who's trying to divide? A coatch going to players and talking about captain's retirement... its nothing but purely creating rift between the players.

2. "He has lost the trust and respect of his team mates"
-> Dont know how far it is true. Even if it, isn't it b'coz of Chappell's over enthusiasm in runnung to the players and discussing about Saurav's retirement? He's been the leader since 5 years and how can he suddenly loose players' trust just in 3 months? (For that matter he was out of form even before Chappell came. No one ever complained about this even then). Infact Ganguly is known for backing the players and he's been the players' captain.

It is very clear that Chappell wants to dectate terms in Indian cricket. He has some "plans" and wants to implement them no matter what. But that doesn't work with Indian cricket. Its no Australia. We have our own methods in dealing with players. You simply cannot throw out Tendulkar or Ganguly or Dravid no matter how their form is. And that too, its selection pannel's job. Not coatch's! It is not practically possible to treate ALL players equally like Chapell is saying now. Even we have a system where the board pays more money to senior players. Grading system is in there. You cannot talk rubbish to the Captain of India.

Agreed, the system is not good. But its not the coatch who changes the system. Coatch's job is to work with the given team, captain with in the system. If you can't do that, you better quit.

If Ganguly is to go out, he will be sent out by our board. Coatch is no one to ask the captain to get out. Look how the team is backing their captain. Shame on you Chapell for playing dirty with Indian team. Probably its better that we have an Indian coatch.

Bad elements need to be removed. They are exploiting press to bring Chappell down. Secret discussions, secret emails are leaked out to press to show chappell in poor light.

I think whole charade staged by Ganguly has been bought by some people by the look of it. Moment Ganguly found out that there is going to be a review panel, and chappel is going to be a part of it he wanted to know before hand where exactly Ganguly stands directly from chappell instead of getting it from the selectors! So he wanted to sit down and hav e a talk with chappell. He sought an honest opinion. He got an honest opinion straight from chappell. After learning from chappell that his career is seeing the end of the tunnel, he pulled out this stunt to gain some sympathy from some "fans"!!

Ganguly has achieved this mission 5% successfully. I mean some 5% people still support him based on what he did in 1999!!

Do not keep using the name of Ganguly for India's success! Did you guys ever think of the fact that at the same time Ganguly was appointed, Wright was appointed as the first foreign coach of India. Did you guys ever thank the effort of Wright to instil the importance of fitness among players? Just coz Wright decided to sit back not wanting the limelight we should not forget him. Some fine individual achievements coupled with Wright's contribution at various levels Ganguly enjoyed his glory. So don't use those things as an excuse for further extension of his career.

Quoted message from Karthik

silk, glad to c u back