Years apart, two coaches share corporate culture

You can almost see the proffered smile from Greg Chappell and Tom Moody, opposites in the Indian and Sri Lankan camps in the current series.

Greg’s older brother, as forthright as ever, dismissed the Chinese thoughts as being seriously misguided. Top players, he argues, should be able to look after the players and help the technical and tactical growth of the side through natural progress. The best classroom is the heat of battle in the middle.

Greg Chappell arrived in Sri Lanka for the India Oil Cup triangular with Rahul Dravid as captain and a team that was struggling with injuries as well as consistency and form. As Bob Woolmer noted when he took over South Africa, you need time to settle into the role and a series defeat (away) doesn’t always mean you have done a bad job.

Moody, as an example, had swiftly settled into the Sri Lanka role. Here is a man who uses the corporate style approach with the human touch. There was success, too, at first; like crows with easy pickings, Sri Lanka pecked over the remains of soft targets in the West Indies and Bangladesh.

But he knew the real challenge lay ahead.

‘‘India presents us with a major challenge’’, he told this columnist. ‘‘Sure we are the second-best limited overs side but things can change. The side has been consistent at home. The challenge is to carry that form abroad.’’

Chappell too is a realist. He is also been labelled as authoritarian. This represents a highly dangerous precedent to brand someone who was as elegant a stylist as is Rahul Dravid in such dismissive language.

In some ways coaching styles are about leadership and as much as you would find in business (or corporate) dealings as diplomatic approaches. Some suggested political fields as well, but it is seriously hard to swallow that one.

Chappell and Moody come across as corporate models; strong disciplinarians, administratively organised in how they want the job done.

They come from different eras and bring different methods, skills and ideas. The need is to blend successfully the ideas. Had India gone on tour of troubled Zimbabwe before the triangular series in Sri Lanka, Chappell would have had a chance to develop early tour rapport with the players, and as such establish his management style without the disruptive background that followed.

In some ways, this would have helped India and Chappell, as did the two Test series and triangular tournament aided Moody, to settle swiftly into such a high-profile role.

It has been argued that the squabbles between Chappell and Ganguly diverted India’s team management thinking and had a divisive impact on the side. This is not true at all. India have, if anything, emerged stronger.

Man mountain Moody is a strong enough personality to place his management style within the framework of the team ethic. As with Chappell, his role is still developing and the end target is CWC07.