Indian captain Sourav Ganguly is unlikely to get the support of his Jagmohan Dalmiya in his battle against Greg Chappell.
Though Dalmiya would have liked to back Ganguly, the oncoming board elections have forced him not to interfere in this matter. Dalmiya, a shrewd tactician that he is, would not like to get involved in a controversy at this crucial juncture.
The annual general meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to elect the new office-bearers will be held on September 22-23 in Kolkata.
Though the tour review committee will be meeting on September 27 to discuss the Ganguly-Chappell issue, the Indian skipper's fate will be clear after the board's meeting.
The anti-Dalmiya group is likely to field Congress politician Sharad Pawar for the post of BCCI President's post.
In the last elections, Pawar lost due to the casting vote of Dalmiya, who presided the election. But this time around the anti-Dalmiya group, led by Raj Singh Dungarpur, has mustered enough support for Pawar.
Soften the stance
The ruling Dalmiya group in the BCCI, wanting to soften the Ganguly-Chappell issue, is understood to have asked Ganguly to come out with a statement in support of Chappell.
Meanwhile, Chappell went one step ahead by expressing his respect for Ganguly. Together they blamed it on the media for blowing up the issue.
According to Chappell all that he tried to do was to motivate Ganguly. If that was so, why did he not say this as soon as Ganguly came out with the statement: "I was asked to step down."
What also seems more mysterious is that how could he have motivated Ganguly by asking him to sit out?
This would also have been the first instance of a captain, who should be actually motivating his players, being short of motivation.
Meanwhile, Ganguly's statement that "we are professional people and are mature enough to take those things in stride," too sounds funny.
If he was mature enough, why did he reveal to the media that someone had asked him to step down?
