Sense of timing: Chappell bows out

MUMBAI, India, April 4
India coach Greg Chappell handed in his resignation on Wednesday, two days before the Indian cricket board meet to analyse the team's poor World Cup performance in the Caribbean.
"Today I informed the president of the BCCI that I would not seek an extension to my contract to coach the Indian cricket team for family and personal reasons," Chappell said in a statement.
The Australian's two-year contract was due to runout at the end of April."Chappell's contract is over, it was until the WorldCup," board president Sharad Pawar told reporters in New Delhi, acknowledging that the board had received the Chappell resignation e-mail.
Chappell, 58, took up the post in 2005 with an eye on success at this year'sWorld Cup but India suffered a shock first-round exit last month in the Caribbean, losing to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
"Firstly, I would like to extend my thanks to the BCCI for allowing me the honour of coaching the Indian cricket team over the past 22 months. It is, and it remains, one of the most challenging coaching positions in world cricket," Chappell said.
"I am grateful to the players with whom I have worked in this time for the challenges that they presented me with and which I tried to meet in aprofessional, methodical and interesting way in the interests of the team and the individual," the statement said.
"I would like to make special mention of my support staff without whom I would not have survived the rigours of the past 22months. "The people of India deserve a special mention as they are the ones whose attention, enthusiasm and love and support drive the great game, and business, of cricket in this country, and around the world.
"I thank them all, especially those who have written to me and the thousands who have gone out oftheir way to come up to me with well wishes."
The former Australian captain's tenure with India has yielded mixed results since takingover in May 2005 from New Zealand's John Wright, who served as India's first foreign coach for almost five years.
A 1-0 test series victory last year in the Caribbean -- their first in 35 years -- was one of the high points. But the failure to qualify for the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy as hosts last year and the disappointment of a first-round exit from the World Cup has notgone down well with cricket-crazy India.
India notched a record 17 consecutive one-day victories when batting second under his reign but the team's inabilityto perform away from home saw it end with a record of 32 wins against 27 defeats, with three no-results.
One particular sore point was that the batsmen failed to complete the full 50 overs in 12 of 17 one-dayers away from home. India 's test record during the period was only slightly better, winning seven, drawing seven and losing four. Chappell's relationships within the dressing roomwere bumpy, too, with a public spat with skipper Saurav Ganguly just months into his job leading to the Bengal left-hander's axing.
Ganguly later returned and was one of India's few successes at the World Cup. Leading India batsman SachinTendulkar also reacted angrily that Chappell had questioned the attitude of senior players at the World Cup and his comments set off a national debate

Former chief selector Kiran More has urged the Indian cricket board to look seriously into the players' poor World Cup performance and not be distracted by coach Greg Chappell's resignation on Wednesday.
"I think the main issue is getting diverted now by the resignation of Greg," More said.
"At the end of the day the performance is what is important and the blame cannot be totally laid at Chappell's door," said More.
Former coach Aunshuman Gaekwad expressed surprise at Chappell's decision.
"It has come as a surprise because Greg's been saying that he is contracted until the end of the month and would arrive at a decision during the two-day meeting," said the former test batsman.
Many feel the angry reactionof leading India batsman Sachin Tendulkar, suggesting Chappell had questioned the attitude of senior players at the World Cup, had led to the Australian'sdecision.
Record-breaking batsman Tendulkar's comments on Wednesday set off a national debate.
The 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev said he wasdisappointed at the results.
"A little disappointed. We had a lot of hopes on Greg Chappell and the results weren't very good for the Indian team," he told a private television news channel."(But) I would like to see his report, know what we need to do to improve."