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I'll take ideas from former players: Chappell
Indian cricket coach Greg Chappell shares some of his plans for Team India with NDTV.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:52 AM IST
Read Time:5 min
Bangalore:
Indian cricket coach Greg Chappell shares some of his plans for Team India with NDTV. In an exclusive chat, Chappell said that he's open to having many people involved in the team, people who can advise on new players, give opinions on fresh talent. NDTV:: You have said that you are not averse to getting a coach for the bowlers. Do you have anyone in mind? Are you going to recommend, do you think that's a good idea? Greg Chappell, Indian cricket coach: "I think we need a lot of different ideas from time to time. We will need coaches who are experts in spin bowling, we need coaches who are experts in fast bowling. I am open to getting as many people involved one way or another. There are a lot of people, former players who live all around the country who watched different players. I will be seeking opinions from a variety of people about some of the fringe players, some of the up and coming players, so I can quickly get upto speed with who is around the place. There will be various camps from time to time here at the National Cricket Academy and I will be either involved or talking with the coaches who are involved in the camps just to see what is going on and what their recommendations are. Who they think have got talent, who they think are likely to be able to take the next step. One person can't own all the wisdom, one person can't know everything that is going on about Indian cricket. So I will be relying on some very knowledgeable people and calling them to be involved with the team from time to time." NDTV: You know Sachin has been a huge icon in Indian cricket, internationally too. Do you think that some of your comments on his injury and how one shouldn't really fret about it too much after all there is room for others - you think that there is a possibility that these comments could be misunderstood that you are neglecting an Indian icon? Chappell: "Any comments can be misunderstood. I had a conversation with Sachin yesterday and I don't have a doubt that he hasn't misunderstood the comments and that's the important one in the equation. That's one of the problems with discussing players from time to time that comments can be taken out of context. Sachin Tendulkar is a champion player, he is a wanted player for India. The comment that I made is that we can't do anything about the fact that he is out injured. What we can do is make sure that someone else gets the opportunity and it may as well be as it was with Sachin when he first came into the team. He got his first opportunity when someone else was injured and he took that opportunity and has gone onto become a champion. The point that I made was that it could be the next person's chance now to get an opportunity and they may well go onto become the next champion for India." NDTV: You have also commented on the fact that you think that there is still a lot of depth that remains in the Indian captain's batting abilities. Chappell: "Yeah it doesn't matter whether it is Sourav Ganguly or anyone else. Someone who has performed that well at that level over a long time has got talent. They don't lose that talent overnight. They sometimes lose their way, the mindset, the focus is dissipated and they don't use the talent as they have in the past. But I have no doubt that if Sourav can get back into form, get the right thought processes going he will make runs again for India and plenty of them. So it's basically upto him and to those of us in the support staff to help him create that environment that internal environment that he needs and the external environment that he needs to be able to perform well. So I look forward to working with him again. I have worked with him in the past and look forward to the opportunity of doing so again." NDTV: Any names that you would like to name at this stage of young hopefuls that you are going to really try and cultivate? Chappell: No, I don't have any individuals that I have particularly picked out. I am looking forward to seeing a few though I haven't seen very much of who've played some games for India in recent times. Some of them have done very well, so there is no doubt that there is talent there and I am open to seeing as many of them as possible so that I get a good look at who's around. NDTV: You know Greg Chappell has surveyed everything before he has made the presentation, taken up this assignment. What do you think of the Indian team's cohesiveness? Do you think there is something lacking in that and also their morale right now? Chappel: "Look, teams and individuals go through ups and downs. They have good periods and they have bad periods and that is all part of cricket at this level. I think what we need to do is learn the lessons from that and work out why that happens and how we can go about reducing the incidence of those down periods, whether it be for an individual or for a team. I don't think the team lacks morale. I don't think it lacks talent, I don't think it lacks cohesiveness. We have seen them do too many good things." NDTV: So give us an idea of what kind of physical regimen you are going to put them through. Are you going to be real tough taskmaster as far as fitness goes? Chappell: "Fitness is very important. Cricket skills are even more important. So it is going to be a combination of a lot of things. If you want to play well at the international level, particularly as a bowler or even a batsman, you need to be fit. The fitness programme will be a solid programme, but so will the cricket programme, because at the end of the day that is what we are playing." NDTV: What's your wish-list script for 2007 with this present team? Chappell: "Well, I am still stuck in 2005. So the big vision is to make sure that by the time we get to 2007, we are going to be competitive enough and we will give ourselves a good chance of winning the World Cup. But in the mean time, we have to take the steps and put the building blocks in place that will get us to 2007 in the best shape to be able to do ourselves justice. And if we can do that, we'll give ourselves a good chance."Topics mentioned in this article
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