Why renew Greg's contract?

Why is the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) talking about renewing Indian coach Greg Chappell's contract even before the start of the World Cup?

As usual the Indian board seems to have different rules for different set of people or is the board still in pre independence-day era where foreigners enjoyed their reign, following 'Divide and Rule policy'.

Chappell accused former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly of dividing the team but according to the recent media reports, the Aussie is said to be indulging in the same trick, which has only caused animosity even among the seniors.

There is no doubt that the performance of the present Indian ODI team has hit rock bottom and the Indian coach Chappell has to take the major part of the blame for over experimenting, which has left a deep scare on the morale of the players.

Ninety per cent of the cricket scribes around the country felt that this trend (over experimentation) would not work as we did not have proper resources to replace proven talent, but nobody, including the BCCI, listened to them.

Even though young players, who have been the victims of Chappell's experimentations, have been axed mercilessly from the team and there is a sense of chaos among the senior players, the board seems to be biased in dealing with all these problems strictly before a mega event like the World Cup, which will be held in the West Indies in March.

Nothing less than a repeat performance of the last edition (2003) of the World Cup, where India finished second best to the ultimate winners Australia, will bring back the lost glory of the Indian one-day team, which has struggled to make it to even the second stages of any of the major tournaments recently.

Hence, if India fail to make it to the final of the World Cup, then BCCI should not even think of renewing Chappell's contract because Indian coaches like Mohinder Amarnath or Sandeep Patil would have been as good a coach as Chappell if not better. They would come much cheaper and probably be more effective than the foreign coach.

For India to show an improved performance, the two home series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka will hold the key, as they have to rebuild the team from the scratch.

Even seasoned campaigners like skipper Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar are a confused lot and are struggling to come to terms with their batting form while youngsters like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rudra Pratap Singh and Suresh Raina have failed to live up to their earlier expectations making it that much more harder for the rebuilding process to succeed instantly.

Probably if seniors like V V S Laxman and Anil Kumble are played during the two home series, things might just look up as youngsters like Dinesh Kaarthik and Raina could benefit a lot watching Laxman in action while Kumble's accuracy is well known and respected by the rival teams.

So the BCCI officials, instead of shooting-off their mouth, should concentrate more in rebuilding the side and make it very clear to the support staff, including the coach, that they has to knit a winning combination or face the consequences.

Perform or Perish policy should be applied to one and all and not just to the players!

Source : DNAIndia.com