BOMBAY, 19 August 2005 — The process of the appointment of captain for India’s cricket tour of Zimbabwe, so quickly on the heels of an unsuccessful visit to Sri Lanka, resulted in Saurav Ganguly regaining his lost position. But at what price? The selection committee meeting, which lasted well over two hours, could not conceal the fact that there was a constant flip-flop over the choice before a final decision was arrived at.
The final verdict (4-1) in favor of Ganguly left Rahul Dravid terribly humiliated. Dravid, one of the leading batsmen in the world and a man with an impeccably clean record in international cricket, commands a lot of respect within his team as well as in the estimation of rivals. On all accounts, he did not do too badly as captain in the recent series, in which India ought to have won two or more matches but for poor bowling in the end. A more important fact was that the burden of captaincy did not affect his batting as he had three scores of over 50 in five matches, a record that was the best among the Indians.
In contrast, Ganguly had looked woefully out of touch and was throughout a slow mover in the field. Even before his suspension for four matches, which led him to lose his captaincy, Ganguly’s form had been extremely poor, so was his performance as captain. In fact, not a few were unbothered that he would be out of the Indian team for some time.
Now, the question most fair critics of the game and some of the former players are asking is “What wrong did Dravid do ?”
If he was to be stripped of his captaincy after only one short series, he ought to have been told before his appointment that he was only a stand-in skipper. When they appointed him, the selectors made it clear that it was not a stop-gap arrangement but that Dravid was a full-fledged captain. This selection committee meeting mirrored one that was held in 1971 when a momentous decision by way of a casting vote had discarded Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi as captain and foisted on the team was an out-of-the-blue captain Ajit Wadekar for the twin tour of the West Indies and England. Pataudi, who had a very impressive run as a captain for almost a decade, was hurt to the point that he withdrew from both the tours. Even if credit be given to Wadekar for series victories over the West Indies and England, it was indeed the triumph of a team so nicely put together earlier by Tiger Pataudi.
Last week’s selection committee meeting too did not lack intrigue. As the debate went on and on, three of the five selectors at one stage backed Dravid as captain. The votes were about to be recorded, when something strange happened. The chairman of selectors, Kiran More, got a call on his cell phone, which he, along with others, had to leave outside the conference room. A messenger came into the room and told More that there was an urgent call waiting for him. One did not have to guess from whom the call was. Five minutes later, three more selectors were called outside by More. When they returned, the equation had changed completely. Only V. B. Chandrasekhar, representing the South Zone and in the forefront of the campaign for Dravid, was left with his solitary vote. Two others, who were with him, crossed over in support of Ganguly.
There is no doubt that the outcome of this meeting will have a far reaching effect on the forthcoming BCCI annual general meeting in September, as also it will deepen the split in the Indian team. Among the senior players, there are going to be Ganguly loyalists and Dravid loyalists. This is a situation that does not augur well for the future performance of the Indian team.
