MUMBAI, 5 April 2007 — After criticizing four senior Indian players for their poor attitude that led to the Indian team’s first-round exit at the World Cup, Greg Chappell, the Australian coach of the Indian cricket team yesterday sent his resignation through an e-mail to Sharad Pawar, the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
In the e-mail, Chappell, 57, cited family and personal reasons for his resignation, and stated that he would not seek an extension to his contract with the BCCI.
Chappell, however, said that he would attend the BCCI board meeting, which is to be held in Mumbai on April 6-7 to discuss the debacle of the team, in which captain Dravid would also attend. Chapell said that he would also present his report in-depth about the dismal performance of the team.
Chappell, a former captain on Australia’s cricket team, was named coach of the Indian side in 2005. He thanked BCCI for giving him a chance to coach Team India. He also reserved a special mention for his support staff and thanked the players for their support. He also complemented Indian people for their passion for the game.
The Australian coach described coaching the Indian team as the biggest challenge of his career.
Chappell’s contract expires on May 31.
Throughout his tenure, his performance was consistently compared with that of his predecessor, former New Zealand captain John Wright — the first foreigner to be appointed as the Indian national team’s coach. Under Wright’s guidance, India reached the final four years ago before losing by 125 runs to Australia.
With the team unable to move beyond even the first round in 2007, there already has been much speculation in India about the coach’s future with the team.
When he took over the reins as coach, India stood at No. 1 in the ICC rankings and currently dropped to No. 6 position.
Chappell’s decision to step down came hours after the Times of India published an interview with Tendulkar, who said “it hurts if the coach questions our attitude.”
“I’ve given my heart and soul to Indian cricket for 17 years,” Tendulkar was quoted as saying. “No coach has mentioned, even in passing, that my attitude was not correct.”
The Indian team lost to Bangladesh in its opening match and was then knocked out of the tournament by Sri Lanka.
Despite Tendulkar’s record for the most World Cup runs — more than 1,700 in some 33 matches — he had a disastrous tournament this year, his fifth World Cup. He was out for a duck against Sri Lanka in a must-win game that India lost by 69 runs.
“I’m shattered beyond words,” Tendulkar said. “World Cup was our passion, our collective dream.”
In the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, where India lost to Australia in the finals, Tendulkar was declared the Player of the Tournament and won the Man of the Match award three times. However, injuries have plagued and slowed down Tendulkar, 34, over the past two years. He had surgery last year to repair a tear in his right shoulder. — With input from agency
India’s cricket players are adored by millions and are among the world’s highest-paid cricketers. Yet the players also face flak when they fail to live up to the expectations of fans — whose disappointment has occasionally erupted into violence in India.
India’s cricket board will meet later this week to discuss the World Cup debacle.
Maintaining a silence over Chappell’s resignation, BCCI officials in refused to confirm or deny the resignation stating that the BCCI President Sharad Pawar would comment on it later.
- With input from agencies
