E-Paper
Thanks John, you got it right!
John Wright was here to string together a team, not to correct wrongs, writes Pradeep Magazine. Your Take | Was John Wright really interested in Team India?/a
His intense, brooding eyes, the furrowed forehead and a gawky walk somehow always conveyed to me the impression of a man, impatient and afflicted with self-doubt.
He had extreme mood swings, preferred his own company and counsel and was very stingy with his opinions. You never knew what was in his mind. As time passed and one got to know him better — relatively speaking, as he never allowed anyone to enter his private world — one realised that first impressions can be misleading.
John Wright was a warm-hearted person, someone who valued and cared for the job assigned to him and hated to be misunderstood. And away from home and family, working in an alien culture and that too in a job which had star-status attached to it, Wright by his own admission, felt lonely. It was difficult for him, as he would confess in those rare moments of candour — his confidence boosted by a few pints of lager — but the challenge of the job was a severe test of his ability and he was not one to give up in desperation.
And he did not. He understood this self-serving system better than most of us and also realised that he was not here to correct all the wrongs of the Indian cricket establishment. He was here to work around the system and string together a team that could produce results.
Again, in those moments of refreshing candour — again boosted by the uninhibited ambience of spirited nights in hotel bars with their depressingly dim lights — Wright would open out and speak of his nightmarish experiences with the selectors, the players and the administrators.
The next morning he would look through you with eyes so cold that you would not dare to even wish him for fear of being scorned. It was strange behaviour from a man with whom you had almost spent a whole night, talking about various aspects of Indian cricket. It was, perhaps, his way of telling you, “I don’t remember what I said and you dare not involve me in any controversy.”
We all understood him well and when you look back at his five-year tenure, Wright never got involved in any controversy, unlike Greg Chappell has in his first year itself. But he carried on working behind the scenes with sincerity and a meaningful purpose that helped the Indian team to some truly memorable results. Yet, the man kept such a low profile that the team was never called Wright’s team, unlike now, when it is referred to as Chappell’s India.
On the eve of his final departure from India, one met Wright at one of the many lavish cocktail dinners corporate India throws for the team in order to sell its products. Expectedly, the night became very long and the man, unusually sentimental.
He would miss the country, especially the love and passion of the fans who made this game so big. He felt they deserved better from their team.
Would he write a book, a quickie on Indian cricket? His answer revealed the fibre of the man far more than a thousand words could do. “I am too close to my experiences here and would not want to pass any hasty judgement just to create a sensation. Your country has given me respect and love and I don’t want to betray that love. I will go back home, think about it and if and when I do decide to write, I would like to be positive and constructive and write about things which could help Indian cricket.”
I think — I haven’t read the book, but judging from whatever has appeared in print so far — Wright has been true to his word. He has not named any individual or selector for his wrongdoing but merely pointed out a flawed selection system that, at times, leads to faulty selections. This whole distasteful system of having selectors linked to the Board’s vote politics and zonal affiliations has created serious selectorial gaffes in the past and as long as we don’t correct the system, it will continue to do so in future as well.
Wright, by focusing on this issue, has merely pointed out what is seriously wrong in Indian cricket. For us to react and say that this “foreigner was here to make money and is now going to make more money through his book” is a churlish reaction that misses the point completely.
Let Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya win or lose an election. Let Messrs Modi/Bindra earn more and more money through whatever means and let Indian cricket even spill blood on the cricket field to retain hold of the Indian Board… who cares? Do whatever you want to fight your private wars in public and public wars in private but at least ensure a system that rids itself of parochialism and selfish selection interests just to win an election.
The New Zealander cared for Indian cricket and through his writings, has shown he still cares. Thank you John. It is up to us to ensure that your “Indian Summers” do not go waste.
