Team India: Shifting Sands

India's December tour of Bangladesh could mark the beginning of a difficult passage for Sourav Ganguly's team whose form and fortune have slipped after the heady highs of last season. While the tour may not bring about large-scale changes in team personnel, the support unit will have to be rebuilt. After five years with the team, physio Andrew Leipus is leaving and it is unlikely that coach John Wright, four years in the job, will return after the end of the season.

Who will take their place is still uncertain. The presence in the Indian dressing room of batting consultant Sunil Gavaskar for the last two series has raised questions about whether the Indian legend is in the job for the long haul or whether the position itself is a permanent one. The matter of precisely how Gavaskar arrived remains ambiguous: Gavaskar has said that he had responded to an SMS message from captain Ganguly. The news that the BCCI was contemplating naming him team "manager" (a more administrative role) had appeared on an Indian website two weeks before the first Test against Australia, which prompted speculation that his may have been a Jagmohan Dalmiya-inspired move.

In any case, Gavaskar's appointment as "consultant" was announced to the team management as a fait accompli only two days before the first Test versus Australia.

Former India captain and opening batsman, Gavaskar is known today as an ESPN-Star commentator (a role he will return to during the tour of Bangladesh) and columnist. But his double role as consultant, in which he attends team meetings and net practice, has led to a piece of priceless doublespeak: on the opening day of the Kolkata Test, his column in The Telegraph spoke of the Indian team in a detached, third-person abstract, saying they "seemed bereft of ideas". A curious response from the troubleshooter appointed to bring fresh ideas to a troubled team. A job on the inside has its benefits but also constraints and complexities that need to be respected. Or else, it is back to the dark ages of intrigue.

As the BCCI looks for replacements for Wright and Leipus, the speed with which the sands have shifted in the Indian team will have sent out a warning signal to everyone lining up for the jobs. No matter what the perks and pay cheque, not everyone can work with vultures circling overhead.

After facing the powerful Australians and the sticky South Africans, the Indians may believe their troubles will decrease against Bangladesh, regarded as the weakest team in international cricket. Their problems off the field though may just be beginning.

-By Sharda Ugra