Sourav Ganguly has been given more chances by the Board of Control for Cricket in India than the number of chances from his bat that have been dropped by fielders. The shoddy and meaningless compromise worked out by the review committee of the BCCI allows Ganguly to continue as captain of the Indian team, a position he ill deserves since on current form he cannot take for granted his place in the side. There is the damning report on him by the coach, Greg Chappell. That report has now been forgotten even though it was a confidential report written up by the coach at the behest of the president of the BCCI. The shoddiness of the compromise that has been made is suggested by the fact that the powers that be in the BCCI have chosen to ignore the report. For some inexplicable reason, the BCCI wants to cling on to Ganguly even though at 33, the Indian captain, as his performance indeed suggests, has become a burnt-out case.

The coach and the captain have uttered pious words about working together. This is no more than a charade. After what has happened, it will be a miracle if the two of them can work together with any degree of mutual respect and cooperation. In fact, the so-called patch up has left Chappell in a very dubious position. His report on the captain has been filed and forgotten, and his authority remains undefined. The board?s president, Mr Ranbir Singh Mahendra, has pompously declared that ?the captain has to control the game and the coach has to do his job?. The crucial issue is what, according to the BCCI, is the coach?s job? Does it end with training? Or, in fact, only begins with training and continues to evolving strategy and to building the team for the future? The board has decided, typically, to bypass such thorny issues. To say that performance is the sole criterion is to labour the most obvious. The problem is that performance is not the criterion in Indian cricket. That is why Ganguly continues to be in the side. By dodging unpleasant actions and decisions, the review committee has only taken evasive action. This was predicted by those who know how the BCCI functions. Indian cricket has got the worst possible bargain. It has got an apex body that is least interested in the game; it is saddled with a captain who is hopelessly out of form and is not amenable to discipline; and it has a talented coach whose powers are severely circumscribed. The writing is on the wall for the World Cup in 2007.