The contents of Greg Chappell’s email have sealed the lid on the small jar of remaining doubt I had about Chappell’s escalating discord with Sourav Ganguly.

In the email he is blatantly accusing Ganguly of feigning injury to avoid 20 or so overs of the new ball before returning the field to complete his modest 46 against the Zimbabwe Board XI at Mutare.

On the assumption that Chappell has this right then Ganguly has to go. Forget politics, attitude, fitness and fielding. All of these come a distant second place, in my opinion, to a captain (or any player for that matter) who is prepared to invent an injury to manipulate his time at the crease to avoid the heat of the new ball. The ‘heat’ from this particular bowling attack could be described as warmish at best.

In the time Ganguly was off the field, three Indian wickets fell to the new ball. What does this say about a captain?

For me at least it says – ‘selfish, manipulative and frightened’.