Chappell spot on, says has-been cricketer now turned pundit, Sanjay Manjrekar.
He goes on to claim,
“that Chappellâ?(tm)s greatest contribution was showing Indian cricket the mirror”.

Oh no he was not, he was a blot on the system,
we are lucky that it decided to go away by itself.

I believe Chappell came to India
with the sole selfish purpose to sell himself
and his “Chappell Way” to the world
this was where millions watched cricket,
millions paid millions, and millions were up for grabs.

He could not be just a coach.
He was a sales person, marketing his product.
To do that he needed total control of his company.
To be able to point a finger and say “you’re fired”.
He brought his own support team,
there would never be any arguments from them.

He needed a bunch of players
who would accept his orders without questioning.
A yes, sir! yes sir! three bags full sir! brigade.

But he realised, the team had stars by their own right,
no less bright than himself, they would never be a pushover,
He found a solution for his immediate problems.
He made a hit list.

Yashpal Sharma told us this when he resigned, but we did not believe him.
These were the players:
Saurav Ganguly,
Virender Sehwag,
Zaheer Khan,
Harbhajan Singh
and yes, Sachin Tendulkar.

Look at the players on his hit list,
would he have ever had complete control over them?
A strong personality like captain Ganguly to start with?

So he got rid of Ganguly,
that was too easy, his supporters were a minority.
He chose Dravid as a captain, his supporters were a majority,
he chose well, for nearly two years he was gratefully served.
He chose the chief of selectors (Kiran More) as a business partner
he knew by then no one would ever raise the issue of conflict of interests.

17 successful run chases
(with twelve player supersubs teams) later he became god.
Perfect so far.

But he had to build a team for the WCC.
The ultimate showcase for his Chappell’s Way.

But he had a problem.
The faithful Sancho Panza of his Quixotic visions.
For faithful Sancho was the biggest liability in any ODI team.
Whose batting was so slow
that his position had to be justified as an innings builder!!
(Innings builder, for heavens’s sake its only 50 overs in an ODI innings!)
Players were sent up and down the order to find a position for Dravid.
Bowlers were turned into hard hitting batsmen to cover Dravids hitting incapabilities.

Young legs were brought in,
to show fielding improvement, we nodded and clapped,
not realising that athleticism was only expected at that age.

He even took on coaching the bowlers,
as he didn’t want any one else to be involved in the team selections.
We lost Pathan in the process.

It was called “experimentation” to make the players flexible.
They became so flexible that they could chase their own tails.
But their is one thing he could not ram down their throats.
Experience.

All the young legs, failed one by one.
A 1-4 drubbing thanks to his sly remark about the Windies players.
Then the disastrous South African 0-4.
Pathan created history by being the first ever player to be sent home in the middle of a tour.

And that is how Chappell’s cookie crumbled.

He knew he was neck-deep in his own shit, and needed scapegoats.
He had disillusioned Sehwag, Tendulkar, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Yuvraj along the way.
He had no choice but to take back Ganguly.
He took into world cup an opener who he had sidelined for a year!
Claimed the return of the player as the success story of his career.
In front of the cameras he orgasmed in his praise for Ganguly.
Behind the scene he texted a Rajan Bala about his displeasure with the team selection……

…..Now that the Indian team is completely demolished,
he has successfully blamed the senior players and just walked off.
Leaving his half-dead experimental guinea-pigs behind.

Hey come on Chappell supporters, just open your eyes for once.
Chappell wasn’t showing us a mirror, he was hiding behind one.

Oh yes, Indian cricket,
you have been looking all scruffy these days,
do look into the mirror more often and put your make up on,
you do not want the world to see your true face, do you?