By Ayanjit Sen

After two weeks of claim and counter-claim, leaking and whispering, India coach Greg Chappell and the captain, Sourav Ganguly agreed a truce.

Chappell and Ganguly agree truce

But the duo's relationship was still far from affectionate as they emerged from a meeting of a cricket board special committee in Mumbai (Bombay).

What began as a dressing-room chat in Zimbabwe escalated into a crisis of massive proportions, with the media and, more crucially, the rest of the team, caught up in it.

Now the board president, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, has issued strict instructions to the Indian players not to speak to the media on this controversial issue.

The spat between the two was a bit unexpected to start with, since it was the same Ganguly who had taken personal batting lessons from former Australia captain Chappell three years ago.

The truce should last for a while as both have reasons to stay on together Indranil Basu, journalist

Some media reports even suggested that Ganguly had supported Chappell's bid to become coach, which ended successfully in May.

But the honeymoon did not last long.

The rift became public when a confidential e-mail from the coach was leaked to the Indian media.

But Ganguly's announcement during a Test match in Zimbabwe that he had been asked to stand down may have motivated Chappell to his next step.

Chappell had argued that the captain was not physically fit and was undermining team unity.

The outcome of Tuesday's meeting, which had both Ganguly and Chappell promising to iron out their differences, will probably please supporters of both the coach and the captain.

"Mutual trust and a professional relationship between the two" were the words put forward by the committee in announcing the patching up of the pair'd differences.

Three famous names of Indian cricket - Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and S Venkatraghavan, along with the board president and two others, were there in the meeting to hammer out a solution to the crisis.

Ganguly's row with Chappell has been front-page news

"It ought to be the only outcome of the meeting. You cannot throw out somebody whom you have either nominated or selected," says former Indian cricketer Vivek Razdan.

Nicknamed the Prince of Calcutta, Ganguly has the backing of the most powerful man in Indian cricket, Jagmohan Dalmiya, a former board president.

But at the same time, Chappell is the coach who has been chosen by the board.

But the question being murmured in the corridors of the cricket board office is how long will the truce last?

"It should last for a while as both have reasons to stay on together," says Indranil Basu, an Indian sport journalist.

"Ganguly would love to captain the team and try and win in the forthcoming assignments while Chappell has come to India with a mission to build a good, strong team

The ceasefire remains uneasy, however, and many believe it is only a matter of time before the next clash.