AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

        Now who is to tell the media that Greg Chappell has not resigned from being the coach of Indian cricket team? The moment India was unceremoniously knocked out of the World Cup he ceased to be the coach as his contract ran only till up to this campaign (to have pegged his contract till the date of 30 April was an extreme act of presumptuousness). Chappell merely announced that he was not going to ask for a renewal of his contract. But the media, in a misplaced groundswell of energy and emotion, has been going to town with Chappell's 'resignation', and is seeking opinions from all manner of cricketers and any one who had walked past a bat.

        In this overwhelming atmosphere of blinkered vision and unrestrained passion, no sane idea and a realistic appraisal of the situation is bound to emerge. Emotions are good within families. Outside, they fuzz up the picture and blur reality. Tendulkar took the emotional route to take on Chappell. His indignation, though tempting in appeal, seemingly lacks a moral core as it does not answer the bigger questions that Chappell's report reportedly touches upon. It rhetorically sidesteps the bigger issues at stake. So, for us to follow in the same path clouded in high dudgeon is to be like herd-instincted sheep.

        Of course, most of the questions that l'affaire Chappell raise is for the board to answer. Influence of corporates in selection and captain not being allowed to have his say in many matters are products of administrative wrongs. Chappell's allegation, if generically translated, would read that money had a lot of role to play in most things in Indian team. This is an old malaise in Indian cricket.

        The Board is also to blame for the unholy fiasco that the Chappell reign has ended in. Chappell is a task-master professional. There are no shortcuts to greatness for him. He was always bound to crack the whip. To now cry hoarse that he was harsh and hard-hitting is simply silly and dangerously duplicitous. A hunting hound cannot be expected to behave like a pampered poodle. The board and the media made Chappell's arrival messianic. The same group now has made his departure merely messy. The call for Indian coaches from 'vested-interested' former Indian cricketers and some of the players is also pathetic. For, it was the same players who had specifically wanted a professionally-trained overseas coach.

        The Chappell saga has portentous and illuminating lessons for those who are ready to learn from it. Long after the passions are subsided and the TV anchors gone home to embrace some sanity, in the silence of the occasion when only the ticking of conscience could be heard, those who run the affairs of Indian cricket should wake up and seize that moment. It is the moment to look into the mirror and confront the question 'what's wrong with Indian cricket'. And if they are honest, they will answer 'everything'. And then perhaps start off from there.