Monday, August 20, 2001 Two Test defeats in a row, and the wolves are back in business. Despair at India's humiliation at Galle has swiftly turned to outrage and a wounded nation is seeking retribution and redress. Raj Singh Dungarpur, Indian cricket's angry old man, has already passed sentence on Sourav Ganguly, who was held responsible for the Indian defeat by 62% of respondents to an internet poll in the Times of India.

Voices are bellicose everywhere. "Is this the worst team in the world?", screamed the lead headline of Mumbai's largest tabloid on Friday, provoking its readers to react. The denouement was unequivocal: Yes, said 82%. Given the incendiary nature of the Indian cricket fan, it was a surprise that 18% actually said no.

How memory fades before inflamed passion. How easily has it been forgotten that this team won three successive Tests, two of them against the best team in world, before losing two. Yes, it would have been nice to have Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble, but given available resources, this is the best team we've got and if they are the worst in the world, too bad. What choice do we have other than opting for a sabbatical from international cricket?

While the shrill public reaction is strictly along expected lines and should be taken for what it is worth, a surreptitious and far more insidious campaign is building up against India's coach, John Wright. It is being orchestrated by a clutch of former international players who have never been enamoured with the Indian board's decision to appoint a foreigner, which they consider an affront. Only a few have made their disapproval public while a large majority have been waiting for an opportune moment to strike.

Wright is a quiet and unassuming man who has gone about his job in a sincere and no-nonsense manner. As a professional coach, he has brought a sense of purpose and discipline to coaching. He is tough without being domineering and the Indian cricketers have taken warmly to him. Unlike some of his predecessors, he is neither garrulous nor controversial and is always happy to leave the glory to the players.

And the best thing about him is that he is foreign. No Indian cricketer, past or present, would ever acknowledge it publicly, but factionalism has been the bane of Indian cricket down the ages. At best, the Indian team is like a confederation of three to four disparate groups. At worst, they are like an Indian coalition government: they present a united front, but never make good companions.

Every major decision in Indian cricket has a whiff of regional intrigue about it. That's the very nature of the beast. Indian cricket runs on quotas and quid pro quo. The election of office bearers, the formation of the selection committee, the team that this committee selects and the appointment of the coach is forever an intricate exercise in balance of power. The people who run the game in India are not often the best men for the job, but the men who have the best contacts.

John Wright's appointment as Indian coach was a refreshing departure from this sordid and hackneyed script. Wright has no factions to please: he is, and more importantly is seen to be, completely free from regional bias. He was appointed purely on merit, and if he has to be sacked, for heaven's sake, let's give the man time to prove himself unworthy.

Indian cricket has some serious problems. At the moment, John Wright isn't one of them.

Sambit Bal is India editor of Wisden Online. His column appears every Monday

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