Indians not interested in Test cricket: Greg Chappell

Former India coach Greg Chappell mocked the Indian team saying they are not fit for Test cricket. The former Australian captain went a step ahead and blamed the Indian culture for the team's debacle in the tour of Australia.

"Test cricket is pretty tough for them (India). It was obvious from the start of the tour that the Indians weren't really interested in Test cricket," said Chappell, on the sidelines of a promotional event for his book, Fierce Focus, at Adelaide Writers Week.

Chappell said Indians are not cut out for Test cricket and are only fit for Twenty20.

"After the Australians showed that they were going to be a formidable foe, I was very disappointed with the Indians. And having worked with many of them and having been in the dressing room with them, Test cricket was too hard for most of them. They can only make a lot of money playing 20-over cricket. Fifty-over cricket they can sort of put up with.

"Test cricket for a lot of, not only India, a lot of subcontinent teams, I think it's pretty tough. And the challenge for Test cricket is, without the sort of grounding that we (Australians) had as kids, Test cricket is too hard. It's very demanding mentally, physically and emotionally," he said.

Chappell blamed culture for the team's debacle.

"The culture is very different, it's not a team culture. They lack leaders in the team because they are not trained to be leaders. From an early age, their parents make all the decisions, their school teachers make their decisions, their cricket coaches make the decisions.

"The culture of India is such that if you put your head above the parapet someone will shoot it. Knock your head off. So they learn to keep their head down and not take responsibility. The Poms (British) taught them really well to keep their head down. For if someone was deemed to be responsible, they'd get punished. So the Indians have learned to avoid responsibility. So before taking responsibility for any decisions, they prefer not to," he said.

Chappell also said that Virender Sehwag's ambition to become the Indian captain has hurt the team.

"Sehwag thought he should be captain after (Anil) Kumble, so there is a bit of a collision there. I think Dhoni is getting to a point where Test cricket is getting too hard for him, and the undercurrent around the dressing room cannot help," he said.