Jhakas | Sanjay Jha
"It’s difficult to be honest in India," says the over-garrulous, and usually inflammatory coach of the Indian cricket team, Greg Chappell in a rare moment of philosophical lapse.
A few impenetrable breaths later, Chappell, proudly thumping his chest in exuberant joy , a–la Tarzan the caveman cracks this year’s biggest blockbuster to date; he claims full and undiluted credit for the extraordinary comeback of the former captain Sourav Ganguly. Continue reading below
Thankfully, he has not asked the comeback Prince for the lion’s share of his match fee.
You know what, Mr Chappell, I completely agree with you that is difficult to be honest in India. Because it is so easy to be dishonest.
That Greg Chappell is remarkably thick skinned or coats a unique texture is now beyond dispute, debate and discussion.. It is as real as a Kangaroo’s tail. That Chappell has also adroitly mastered Machiavelli is now legendary. But his latest indulgence in self-congratulations on Ganguly’s heroic resurgence smacks of a man suffering from pathological delusions of grandeur.
Sourav Ganguly is back courtesy the single most powerful element that drives individual success in any field of endeavour self-belief and will power. Nothing else matters. Today, Sourav is seen as a personification of grit and guts. But till yesterday, there were many who had conspired to consign him to the coffins of past memories.
Sourav did potentially everything required to make a personal statement; he was going to fight to the end.
So he played all domestic matches, traveled to remote parts of India, went to England to play county cricket, stayed in ordinary hotels, watched his former illustrious colleagues on his 29" screen, and perhaps wondered when would the epochal moment arrive when he would get a chance to resurrect himself.
A fleeting ray of hope. An opportunity for redemption.
It came in South Africa.
And it is such a monumental shame that after launching a vicious tirade against his selection, making vulgar personal accusations, and almost methodically destroying his career, Chappell should now rationalise his prejudiced misdemeanors of the past as deliberate ploys to "help" Sourav Ganguly.
Not even my toddler nephew will buy that twisted mumbo jumbo, Mr Chappell.
If anyone can take a rightful share of Ganguly’s treasured return, it is chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar, who defied the scheming plotters and shifty floaters who were determined to keep the former captain in dark dungeons.
Dignity demands, Mr Chappell, that if you do not have the courage to accept that Sourav Ganguly was actually a victim of some vicious diabolical designs of powers-that-be and your charitable contributions, the least you can do is to leave him alone.
And since Mr Chappell finds it difficult to be honest in India, I do not comprehend as to why he would like to continue to coach the "future generations" of Indian cricketers?
Is it really worth living in a country obsessed with digital sound bytes wherein even raised middle-fingers to eager crowds are surreptitiously captured on candid camera, and we have to "honestly" say, it was just a bad bruise?
Honestly speaking, Greg, that hurt!
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