Former BCCI chief selector and 1983 World Cup winner Sandeep Patil weighed in on India’s coaches since the John Wright era and felt Greg Ghappell wanted to introduce Australian culture in the Indian team with his dominating and aggressive approach, which led to his unceremonious exit.
Patil touched upon the issue in his autobiography ‘Beyond Boundaries’, which was released on Wednesday in Mumbai.
“I think John was the ideal coach for India,” Patil reckoned. “He was soft spoken, polite, well-mannered, always kept to himself, and was happy to be in (captain) Sourav Ganguly’s shadow. In addition to all that, he kept a distance from the press. He managed that so well that he was hardly in the news — unlike what happened in the Greg Chappell years.
“Greg wanted to introduce Australian culture, the Australian way of playing cricket, and the Australian way of thinking. He could’ve done it, but he didn’t bide his time. That’s where I think the rift started, and he was against a few seniors who were not toeing the line.”
Patil mentioned that Chappell wanted to change “everything overnight”, which was in contrast to Wright, who played the waiting game, learned the system and worked with it.
“Greg is a very strong personality; very aggressive. The moment Jagmohan Dalmiya said you have a free hand, he thought that he can change everything overnight. John waited and learnt the system. Greg wanted to change the entire system, the entire thinking, and the selection process,” Patil wrote.
“He introduced flexibility in the Indian team, and he spoiled things for Rahul Dravid, who took over from Ganguly as captain. Irfan (Pathan) was asked to move up the order. Seniors don’t like to change numbers, whether it is Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid or Virender Sehwag.”
“The other issue in the Greg Chappell saga was the presence of Ian Fraser as assistant coach. Most players didn’t like his presence.”
Talking further about Wright, who was India’s first foreign coach, Patil wrote that the New Zealander treated every player equally.
“…during his tenure, there was no ‘seniors’ and juniors’ business. It was one team. He believed all seniors were leaders in some way. He gave them respect, and a free hand, which l feel Anil Kumble didn’t do. Greg Chappell too,” he wrote.
“With Chappell, he was in the news every day. It is very important for a coach to first understand the policy of that particular board, the thinking of the board members and the president. He should have a good rapport with the president and the secretary, and of course the captain and the team. John did that wonderfully.”
He added that Chappell roughed up the feathers of seniors in the team, many of who are yet to come out in the open, including Kumble and Dravid, about what had exactly happened.
“Sourav is not a guy who will get up and start running and doing stretches. You need to give him time. I think Greg rubbed seniors the wrong way, though a few seniors didn’t speak openly about him — some like Kumble still haven’t. It’s the same with Dravid. Ironically, Ganguly got him in, but was instrumental in his exit,” the excerpt in the book read.