Can the Raja be the Mantri?!

How is it like, when instead of leading the team, like you had so often before, you are being led? What is it like to work under someone, whose position you had once been in? Do the equations remain the same? Does everything add up to how it was before?

In a rather stormy and dramatic turn of events, Sourav Ganguly, the captain of the Indian cricket team, was shown the door by a relatively new coach – Greg Chappel. After traversing the rough seas henceforth, there seemed to be some relief when Ganguly, the ex-captain was brought back very briefly. Not as a captain, but as a player, in a side led by Dravid.

Here is a potentially volatile scenario, where an ex-captain is playing under another captain. This has happened a lot of times in Indian cricket before. Nobody can forget the times when Kapil and Gavaskar shared grounds. A little later, Ganguly and Tendulkar, Ganguly and Azhar and now Dravid and Ganguly. Was Greg correct in excluding Ganguly completely and ushering Dravid in as the new captain? The ex-captain and captain playing together – what significance does this have on cricket?

There is so much of psychology involved in this state. As the popular adage goes, cricket is more of a mind game than a physical one. Battles were fought and won, not because army A was physical stronger and more powerful than army B, but because they overpowered the opposition by wit and possessed the power to think them out. The Trojan horse was a product of the mind and not the carpenters who worked day and night to build that horse that brought them victory.

In such a situation, it is fair to say that you will in no way do something to show that another person is in many ways better than you. It is plain human tendency. This always plays in the mind of an ex-captain, playing under another captain. The effort that he used to give earlier would not be there at all. Every cricketer dreams of making it to the test team. Every test cricketer dreams of becoming the captain. That motivates them to perform and play. But for an ex-captain that motivation does not have a place anymore.

Sadly, statistics and individual glory has become more important than the team. It was always more important than the team. It cannot be proved that the ex-captain in the side does not play hundred percent anymore in order to make the team win. But truth is this notion is always playing in his head. There is furthermore, that sense of competition that may arise between the captain and the ex-captain. And most certainly this kind of tension transgresses into the dressing room too.

Look at (arguably) the best cricketing nation in the world. Australian selectors have always made sure that an ex-captain does not work under a captain. Never. There might have been captains for a series or a match. But never have such tensions been enforced upon the team. Right from Richie Benaud, Bill Lawry, Ian Chappel, Greg Chappel, Kim Hughes, Border, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh, Gilchrist and now Ricky Ponting.

Their policies are very simple. Make the team members feel comfortable with each other. This policy of giving one captain his full run and then stepping down to give the successor the captain’s cap, has a lot of advantages. First of all, the captain and the team members (for that matter) do not live in fear of being thrown out the next minute. They know that they would be given a fair chance to prove their mettle. This in turn enables them to take bold decisions. Steve Waugh, for instance enforced a follow-on while playing against the Indians in the Kolkatta test match – something that Australians never do.

Since there is no threat of being dropped out of the captain’s seat, there is a percolation of knowledge, wherein the present captain shares all that he has learnt ( as captain) with the future captain. Therefore there is a relatively mature head taking his place, ensuring that there is no break in the momentum of the team.
Australians lost the Ashes. If India had been in that situation, the odds that the captain would have been dropped, are a 100 to none! The clear message a selection board gives the team in such a set-up is that the captain is as good as the team. If the team does not perform well, it is not the captain’s fault. So ultimately, the team benefits as a whole.

It is probably with this in mind that Greg Chappel did what he had to. He most certainly perceived the situation using this yard stick. The issue could have been less pleasant, but at this point no one can be blamed because the selection policy is such that cricketers are forced to feel insecure. Instead of looking forward, Indian captains are forced to look over their shoulders.