Not the right stuff, John Wright

By John Cheeran
Every man has at least one story to tell.
Everyone should write at least a suicide note.
Cricketers and former cricketers prefer to write their suicide notes quite early in the day.
John Wright, former cricket captain of New Zealand and former coach to the Indian team, has got into the act now. He has released a book, Indian Summers, which deals with his years with the Indian national team.
I’m yet to read the book. But news agencies have carried excerpts from the book and some of them must merit our attention.
I would like to recall that he held a responsible position with the Indian team management, during the Sourav Ganguly era. He was the coach. But he was more like a fellow traveler who did not put his foot down whenever situation arose, demanding such responses. What John Wright knew was to keep his counsel to himself and ensure that he enjoyed the merry ride.
Wright was there with the Indian team roughly for five years, yet we did not see any departure from the tradition in Indian cricket. India won a few matches at home, reached the final of the World Cup in 2003 in South Africa. Wright’s report card did not look bad in the end, but there was no chance to be otherwise, with so many young boys pushing their luck in Indian cricket, the National team was bound to reap seasonal harvests.
My point is, how significant was Wright’s contribution?
Did he live up to his role as a corrective force?
He did not.
In his book, he has lamented that India has a frustrating quota system for selecting national players.
Wright says that the selectors were parochial and tried to plug for players from their own zone. "The first six or seven selections were straightforward. But when it got down to the marginal selections, those last three or four spots that determine the balance of the team and your ability to develop new players, the zonal factor kicked in and things would get interesting," Wright has written.
"It was easy to tell when selectors had come to a meeting with an agenda, ie to try their damnedest to get one or two players from their zones into the team. If their boys weren't picked, they tended to cross their arms, clam up and take no further part in the meeting." Wright worked with five selection committees, headed by Chandu Borde (twice), Brijesh Patel, Syed Kirmani and Kiran More.
He reveals that VVS Laxman and Mohammad Kaif were the ones who felt the heat of the selectors' whims the most. "VVS Laxman and Kaif are examples of outstanding performers who always seemed to be only one or two failures away from having their places questioned."
Is there anything new in this? Why did the agencies bring up this as something worthy of readers’ eyes?
Everyone associated with Indian cricket knows that the nation has a zonal system, which as been dubbed as quota system by critics. The zonal system has its merits as well as its flaws. The point is, if Wright was frustrated by the system he should have argued vigorously with the Indian cricket control board to set right what he felt wrong.
He did not do that; he did not want to upset the power equations with in the Board and with in Indian cricket. As always his biggest weapon was his silence; with an outrageously scheming Sourav Ganguly as his captain, Wright preferred to suffer the indignities heaped on him. Towards the end of his tenure he lost whatever little control he had over the Indian players. Some of the senior and emerging players were too contemptuous of Wright.
Wright also writes how captain Ganguly slighted him by bringing in Sunil Gavaskar as a batting consultant to the team during the Test series against Australia in 2004-05 without any discussion with him.
Wright was looking for a bowling consultant; but the team was given a batting expert.
Indian Summers says: "Two days before the first Test [in Bangalore] I was notified that the legendary Sunil Gavaskar would be joining us as a batting consultant. I couldn't work out how it had happened," Wright says, also indicating that he had in fact asked for some assistance for the bowlers, not the batsmen. "Gavaskar solved the mystery by revealing in a team meeting that he had a text message from Ganguly. I was far from happy because as the head coach I should have had the final say on support staff issues.
"The more people in the room the more shoulders to cry on, the more chance of mixed messages and the more potential for players to go off in different directions. But if the captain decides to bring someone into the camp two days out from a Test against the best team in the world, there's not a hell of a lot you can do about it."
Why did he not protest when the captain was sidelining him and pushing him around? Why did he keep silence. He had a right to tell the BCCI that such things are not done.
But I would like to know what Wright has to say on the most disgraceful episode in Indian cricket. A captain running away from battlefield because his weaknesses will be exposed by rival fast bowlers.
During the same Australian home series when Gavaskar suddenly appeared as batting consultant, Ganguly refused to play in the Nagpur Test. The host association, opposed to the Jagmohan Dalmiya camp, had prepared a green top for the Test against Australians. It was certain that Ganguly will be disgraced in such hostile conditions against a ruthless Aussie attack.
Ganguly pretended he has an injury and left his teammates in the lurch. It was then left to Rahul Dravid to lead the side. India lost the Test eventually.
Ganguly’s winning record as a captain was built around such shenanigans.
But didn’t Indian cricket lose even before that Test began with its captain fleeing from the battlefield?
It was a gross act of indiscipline from Ganguly and he was protected by Dalmiya.
My question to Wright: What were you doing in Nagpur when your captain fled?
People in responsible positions should live up to their assignments.
It is highly disgraceful that people prefer to remain servile, when they are required to intervene and live up to their role.
It is all the more despicable when those guys prefer to convert their cowardice into dollars by recalling the past, far removed from the heat and dust of the field.
Shame on you Mr Wright. This is hardly the right stuff.