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| September 30, 2005 | Friday | Sha'aban 25, 1426 |
Gavaskar goes in to bat for Ganguly
MELBOURNE, Sept 29: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has thrown his support behind captain Saurav Ganguly and said he hoped the public row between the player and coach Greg Chappell was now over.
The rift between former Australia captain Chappell and Ganguly became public on the recent Zimbabwe tour when Ganguly told the media Chappell had suggested before the Test series he should step down in favour of an in-form batsman.
A confidential e-mail from Chappell to board officials leaked to the media said Ganguly was no longer fit to lead the side.
The pair agreed to a truce after a meeting two days ago with a six-man committee, including Gavaskar, from the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
“We hope it won’t crop up again,” said Gavaskar, who is in Australia as the chairman of selectors for the International Cricket Council’s World XI for their one-day series and Test match against Australia.
“It’s a busy season and we’re hoping that everything will be okay. I know it’s not always easy when you’ve had a public spat.
“But both are mature people and having spoken to them, the committee having spoken to them, the committee believes that they will put their misconceptions behind them and go forward.”
Gavaskar also said he did not believe Ganguly had any problems dealing with other players in the team.
England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, a team-mate of Ganguly’s at Lancashire in 2000, said the India captain had distanced himself from the team and appeared aloof.
“He wasn’t interested in the other players and it became a situation where it was 10 players and Ganguly in the team,” Flintoff said in his autobiography Being Freddie.
“He turned up as if he was royalty — it was like having Prince Charles on your side.”
Gavaskar, however, said that impression was a misconception.
“Ganguly has been portrayed as somebody who comes from a royal family, actually his nickname is Maharaj, which is like Emperor in Hindi, but I don’t think so.
“I find what little I’ve seen of him that he’s a very hard working cricketer.
“He likes to get into the nets and work at his batting and bowl in the nets, a lot more than perhaps do 20 laps of the ground or whatever that some other cricketers do.
“I think he’s a hard working cricketer, it’s just a misconception, I think.”
Meanwhile, Ganguly is unlikely to attend a meeting of Test captains called by the ICC in Australia next month so that he can concentrate on his batting, an Indian cricket board official said on Thursday.
The Oct 12 meeting in Sydney, where all the 10 Test-playing nations will be represented, clashes with the Challenger domestic one-day tournament in India from Oct 10-13.
The tournament, featuring the top 36 players in the country divided into three teams, is seen as a selection trial ahead of the seven-match one-day series against Sri Lanka starting on Oct 25.
“Ganguly has already made it clear he wants to play the Challenger,” a cricket board official said.
“He can’t be at both places at the same time.”
Vice-captain Rahul Dravid, who is in Australia for next month’s ICC Super Series between Australia and the Rest of the World, will be asked to represent India at the meeting in case Ganguly opts out, the official said.
India’s cricket selectors, who named Ganguly captain only for the Zimbabwe tour, will pick the skipper for the one-day series against Sri Lanka after the Challenger tournament. —Agencies
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