Australia Selection Policy Flawed, India Best in Nurturing Talent: Ian Chappell

The Australian cricket is known for its exhaustive and effective talent identifying programs. It may surprise many then that former captain Ian Chappell hardly thinks highly of it all and has instead, heaped praise on India for replacing its icons without compromising much on batting quality. (Also read: Michael Clarke sets sights on Ashes glory)

Ranked second in the world, the Australians decimated West Indies in the Kingston Test on Sunday to claim the series 2-0. While it was a dominant show, Chappell looks between the lines and feels the side has not tried to blood youngsters enough and instead, allowed rather 'old cricketers' to make international debut.

"Australia was once a leading proponent of the "pick 'em young and watch 'em flourish," philosophy. That's no longer the case and the ancient arrivals in Marcus North, Ed Cowan, Rob Quiney, George Bailey, Chris Rogers, Alex Doolan and now (Adam) Voges, is evidence the system is, if not broken, at least in need of serious attention," wrote Chappell in a column for Mid-Day.com. "The last batsman selected for Australia in his early 20s was Steve Smith but he made his debut as a leg-spinner."

Smith may have made his Test debut five years ago -- at age 21 -- but he has indeed been a revelation over the years. For Chappell though, it is about the entire line-up of players. (Related: Steve Smith can spell England's doom. Here's why)

"Presently, no other team but India could've replaced (Sachin) Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly in such a short space of time and still retained a prolific batting line-up," he says. "The Indian production line of young batsmen is the gold standard in cricket."

Chappell concludes that while the likes of Voges - who hit his first Test ton at 35 - make for good headlines, they usually can't play the long haul.

"The best teams are usually a combination of experienced and youthful cricketers. Australia needs to look at a more flexible system of producing and grooming young batsmen because it requires many good ones playing at first-class level to provide a few of international standard," Chappell says.