This should have been a freakin no brainer

After much fanfare and media hype the BCCI finally decided to name the next Indian coach and successor to John Wright. While I would not like to dwell on the delay in announcing the successor even though the board was aware of Wright's intentions not to stay on after his tenure ended and the names that copped up during the whole selection process including Steve Waugh, John Embury, Dave Whatmore and even Balwinder Sandhu I would however like to state that i think Greg Chappell selection was a no brainer.
Desmond Haynes thought that he should be made coach because he had good knowledge of West Indian conditions and that would help The Indian team with their World cup preparations. I don’t really know what to make of such a statement if a national coach's team immediate concern for a team relinquishing in the bottom rung of the ICC one day rankings is to win the World cup 2 years away and that’s the first thing he can think up of when asked about is credentials for the post.
Mr. Mohinder Amaranth is however an altogether different story. He believed that the job should have been given to him just because he was Indian even though he was ready to use Fair and Lovely in case the media thought a person of foreign person stood a better chance. When asked by someone from the press whether he had a Laptop to iron out the players problems and strategize he replied by saying he didn’t have a laptop but he had a lap (I am not kidding he actually said that). Also his skills at using technology which is part and parcel of the modern era of cricket was on ample display when took close to two hours to make his presentation and finish his interview (although he was allotted 45 minutes) apparently because he had problems with the laptop computer (how the hell do u end up messing up while using MS PowerPoint) he was using. This happened even though Amarnath had brought along his brother-in-law to help handle the technology side of things. Need I say any more?
Moving on the next candidate who I too believed would give Greg Chappell a run for his money (its official now a neat $230,000 plus perks). Tom Moody a young Australian all of 39 years and someone who had played against quite a few players of the current Indian cricket team. While he was a decent player in his heyday he never quite made the cut as a world class performer. He was a bits and pieces player bowling military medium and lower order explosive batsman. The only thing going in his favor was his young age and the fact that majority of the Indian players were backing him because they wanted a coach who could bowl. Now a sneak peek at Tom Moody's statistics tells you how ridiculous the whole line of thought was. He has picked up all of 2 measly wickets in test cricket. Considering the entire current Indian cricket team from people who have ever bowled in test cricket only dravid and laxman have lesser wickets (even they have 1 each and God forbid the day when our coach has to give the 2 bowling tips). Also his best in one day cricket of 3/23 is worse than all bowlers in the Indian squad all part timers included. So all in all his record wasn’t anything to write about and certainly paled in comparison to Chappell's record.
Chappell has a very impressive record in both forms of the game racking up over 7000 runs in tests at a very impressive avg of 53.86 while notching up a very neat 47 wickets too including a fiver resulting in an Aussie victory against Pakistan (aha there's ur bowling coach if u r ready to accept Tom Moody anyways). For those who thought he was from the old school of cricket where one day international (ODI) cricket was unimportant he has an impressive avg of 40.18 in ODI's while taking 72 wickets at an avg of almost one per game. Besides he is known to be a connoisseur of the game and one of the shrewdest thinkers around. His record as coach of South Australia is equally impressive which is indeed impressive because they play in a league that in my opinion has the highest quality on first class cricket being played around the world and one of the reasons why Australia produced consistently world class performers. Also Chappell's been consulted by Indian players in the past to iron out imperfections in their batting techniques and he always been very forthcoming and ready to help in this regard. We must remember that this is a guy whose will to win is so strong that he would rather put his career on the line by asking his brother to bowl the last ball of the match an underarm rather than lose the game and that can only be a good sign for a team that is often been accused of being thick skinned and indifferent to losses. He has been offically appointed till the end of the next world cup and I as a genuine well wisher of the Indian cricket and a very passionate cricket fan hope he takes Indian cricket to greater heights thus writing a glorious chapter in its history.

Last but not the least a tearful adieu to John Wright. You have been a great servant of Indian cricket and have worked with the team to give us moments of great joy and happiness. I think I can finally say that I don’t hold you anymore for holding onto a young Sachin Tendulkar's catch preventing him from becoming the youngest centurion ever. I along with my fellow cricket fans wish you all the best for your future endeavors.

Phew its been quite a long blog must sleep now and thnx golu for inspiring me to write this one :)