Are Wright, Leipus on hit list

one of the cricket board officials is going around whispering to whoever cares to listen that john wright and andrew leipus are going to be sacked as coach and phsyio of the indian team at the end of the series against england just when the english batsmen are wondering how to cope with the spinenrs in the remaining two tests in ahmedabad and bangalore. dalmiya flew into the capital to meet wright and leipus for a long chat. he met the two for over three hours and he says the talks are inconclusive. they will meet again after the third and final test in bangalore to carry on the unfinished discussion. if sourav ganguly could take exception to the media other than in calcutta reflecting his remark that the selectors didn't show him the courtesy of sounding him out before picking the side for the mohali test and even imposed an unofficial ban on players talking to reporters, what should be the feelings of wright and leipus if they are summoned to explain their work ethics soon after a test victory? before the meeting on saturday doubts were sowed in their minds about their continuance. in these circumstances how are they expected to function? at least two managers in their reports have nothing but praise for both wright and leipus for their diligence and sincerity in carrying out their duties. apparently, someone fed to the board officials that the coach is not exactly happy with the captain's strong likes and dislikes of players and that he's trying to promote some other player. if the board has to run on the basis of the rumour mill, then good luck to it. in any case, all the stories are of no consequence as the captains, coaches and physios and, come to think of it, even the board officials, are in office at the pleasure of the president. you need a kishen rungta as chairman of selectors to defy the board chief or someone like bishan bedi to organise the selectors to quit if the board president tried to overrule their decision. wonder, if the venue of the selection committee meeting (jaipur) has anything to do with chandu borde & co showing spine and picking the squad for mohali without consulting the captain, who, it is common knowledge, is on the hotline with the board chief. bravo selectors! in any case, the players are happy with both wright and leipus and anil kumble even publicly acknowledged the role leipus played in his regaining full fitness within a short span of time after a long year's lay-off. moreover, the board has no alternate names even if it wants to replace the two. for the new incumbents to work on the team for the next world cup will not be easy and no-one will accept the job for the simple reason that they will be made the scapegoats the moment india fail to come through the preliminaries from a tough group. the best way for the board is to have a direct channel of communication with the coach. so far, the board hardly had any interaction with wright, who can't afford to have a direct confrontation either with the captain or the selectors on matters of selection. there must be a communication channel through which he can operate. after all, the board used the same players to get rid of the coaches in the past. of course, if the three senior players find that wright has outlived his utility then it's a different matter. now that the englishmen are also convinced that they have no earthly chance of saving either of the two tests left in the series, unless the indian spinners bowl as badly as they did more than once on spinning tracks and the english batsmen find a way to dig in and defy them, the story of their last series here will repeat itself. the english batsmen will have to find a way to sweep the spinners or improvise strokes to keep them out of harm's way. some of the strokes played by their top-order batsmen against tinu yohannan, not kumble or harbhajan singh, clearly showed that they were not able to gauge even the length of the delivery. it was just bad batting, nothing to do with the attack alone. the indian batsmen showed how to gain a stranglehold over the match after bundling out the opponents for a small total by grinding their way on the second day. in retrospect, their tactics were proved right even if the spectators had to yawn a bit. in professional sport, nothing matters except success in the end.