?Sachin or Sehwag may have to move down?

[DesiChap 4]

Coach Greg Chappell discusses India?s current problems and reveals the team?s future course in an exclusive interview with Sunandan Lele TEAM INDIA is back from an exacting tour and they don?t even have sufficient time to rest as they hit the final stretch to the World Cup. In a free wheeling chat with Mumbai Mirror, coach Greg Chappell speaks of the preparations for the upcoming extravaganza in the West Indies. Excerpts: The Indian team had shown in the last World Cup that the team that shifts gear in the actual process can do better. We just need to be in good mental shape before boarding the flight. Two good tournaments in India can work wonders. What were the areas you were planning to improve before South Africa and what are the results? And now what are the main concerns after the SA tour? We were looking for a better bowling combination. Our aim was to build up a pace attack with a little bit of variation, little bit of bounce, swing and pace. In this regard we were pretty happy. Also about batsmen getting acclimatised to various wickets with varied bounce. As a team we need to create a battery of back up bowlers. We have to keep in mind that lot of cricket is played in a short period of time. We have to be careful especially with our bowlers. Three test matches in three weeks is tough on every one but for bowlers it is extra workload with no time for recovery. Your take on the comeback boys and the boys sent back? Some times you are trying too hard. It is not a bad thing to get a break, work out few flaws and come back with a fresh mindset. Look at Zaheer Khan and Sourav Ganguly. Some times you need to clear the head, focus on a few important things that are going wrong. I believe that it helps to some extent. This happens particularly with experienced ones. I think the selection process is much underestimated. Some times you do better by sending player back to the drawing board. When you are in the middle of a slump, working hard, often the mind is not in there to perform and getting away from that environment helps. Agreed, you are in shock being dropped. But once you get out of that shock and look at it from distance, you realise things and can come out with the right answers. In any other country dropping certain player is not at all a complicated matter. In fact, it is treated as a part of life or development process. If a player is weak and doesn?t come back then there is no loss to the team. But if he stages a comeback he will certainly come back as better player. Look at Sourav; he came back with fresh mind with lot of experience, he could play better. In Australia Don Bradman and even Ricky Ponting were dropped for some time. Dropping a player should not be taken as an obstacle in player?s career. It is for his own betterment. ?On slow Caribbean wickets, you have to use power or you have to go on top of the fielders in the middle overs. We have identified players who can do this. Sachin, Sehwag, Yuvraj and even Suresh Raina can do this. We cannot throw in a new player in the team before the World Cup.? Is selection process complicated in India? And do you think having a solid base of first class cricket is essential? Selection is much less complicated process if you have clarity of thought. I personally enjoyed every moment when I was the selector of Australian team. I have no doubt in my mind that having strong first class cricket is essential. If you ask me, the Duleep trophy tournament is the soul of Indian cricket. To have international cricket for 10 months in a year is not the way to go about it. You burn out players, you burn out the captain quickly. You must not ignore your domestic cricket. Properly organised domestic cricket will bring talent on to the surface. You get to see young kids not daunted to face international bowlers and young bowlers not afraid of bowling to established batters. That is how we spotted talented youngsters like Suresh Raina and Sreesanth. That is why I think that Duleep Trophy is the most critical tournament in Indian cricket. The BCCI must find out way to at least play Duleep Trophy with all main players available. This is your research and development. Working hard and not getting desired results can be tough? It can be frustrating. The reality is, we are in the middle of emotional responses. When we won 18 ODIs out of 22, people started praising us like anything. At that time I thought we did not deserve all that praise because we were still short in few areas. Now when we are doing badly we are being criticised and again we are not that bad. In India, praise and criticism are both extremes. Yuvraj was the lynchpin when we won those 18 games. We were getting better starts. Now we are not getting starts and Yuvraj is missing. Yuvraj?s injury and then the top order started failing as they were struggling to score even at the rate of three runs per over was a big blow. People started criticising about the experiments being made. Those were not experiments those were well thought strategies. They worked because they were well thought. Yuvraj was the lynchpin when we won 18 games out of 22. Now we are not getting starts and Yuvraj is missing. His injury and the top order failing was a big blow. Your thoughts on the 2007 World Cup? Let me tell you that on slow Caribbean wickets, teams that can handle overs between 20 and 40 will certainly have a better chance of winning. That?s going to be the difficult stage when the ball becomes softer, fields are spread and wickets become slower. It will be a big challenge to get the ball through the field. You have to use power or you have to go on top of the fielders. We have identified players who can do this. Sachin, Sehwag, Yuvraj and even Suresh Raina can do this. We may have to play players like Sachin or Sehwag in the middle order. We cannot throw in a new player in the team before the World Cup. Because team that does well in the World Cup will certainly have experienced players. One more aspect of successful ODI team would be to nurture all rounders in the team. I believe Sehwag, Sachin, Irfan can take that role. Even players like Harbhajan can develop his ability with the bat. What could be the crucial factor for Indian Team?s World Cup preparations? I am sure the coming eight matches and our first hand experience of playing in West Indies few days back will gel together to help us. Yuvraj is critical to that preparation. If he?s back, able to play some way near to his best form, it will make a huge difference. For me Yuvraj is the missing piece in the puzzle. We have enough talent in the batting order before Yuvraj to stamp that authority in the match. As per my information his rehabilitation process is going on very well. A critical point will be when will he start playing. That will happen not before the end of January. The next 100 days are important for the team and for you too? Yes?.Next 100 days is going to be very exciting and I am looking forward for the challenge. We want to go to the West Indies with reasonably good form. The Indian team had shown in the last World Cup that the team that shifts gear in the actual process can do better. We just need to be in good mental shape before boarding the flight. Two good tournaments in India can work wonders. I am hopeful. http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article&sectid=8&contentid=2007010902512870373f3d85d

[yoda 76]

Re: ?Sachin or Sehwag may have to move down? Suresh Raina is still part of our big WC plans? I can safely say we are screwed.

[Sooda 397]

Re: ?Sachin or Sehwag may have to move down? Well if king FTB Yuvraj is critical to our preperation then we are well and truly facked Mind you WI pitches are slow enough for him.

[King 88]

Re: ?Sachin or Sehwag may have to move down?

Let me tell you that on slow Caribbean wickets, teams that can handle overs between 20 and 40 will certainly have a better chance of winning. That?s going to be the difficult stage when the ball becomes softer, fields are spread and wickets become slower. It will be a big challenge to get the ball through the field.

That says they have atleast learnt something from their visit to Caribbean last year. Yuvraj played really well and I can understand why Greg thinks Yuvraj is crucial for the team. That knock by Yuvraj in the second ODI against WI where India lost the game in the last ball when Bravo bowled Yuvraj was a fantastic one. I think that was one of the best ODI knocks I have seen. While everyone struggled to put bat to ball, Yuvraj hit sixes and fours in the last 10 overs with ease.

[Inside_edge 0]

Re: ?Sachin or Sehwag may have to move down? count on him to score tons on losing cause while in pressure situation expect him to hole out to long on or fine leg depending on how badly he screws up that slog-sweep.

[King 88]

Re: ?Sachin or Sehwag may have to move down? Don't know why you think so IE, he has done pretty well last year and had pulled India out of hole in ODIs more often than anyone. Yuvraj scored in Pakistan, then against England, then in West Indies too. I think he was the pick of the players in ODI format for Indian in year 2006. The hundred he scored against England at Goa last year was a top class one too. I think he is going to be a crucial member in the Indian team in the world cup.

[Inside_edge 0]

Re: ?Sachin or Sehwag may have to move down? Ravi, you are right that he did well in Ind/pakistan series where Dhoni played a big role.Yuvraj's overall contribution does not commensurate with his experience. Known weakness against spin, slow wkt for shots are not the variables one will expect him to thrive on.

[King 88]

Re: ?Sachin or Sehwag may have to move down? Let's be honest one man cannot make difference to the team, it has to be a collective effort. For India to be able to win you need Dhoni, Yuvraj, Rahul, Tendulkar, Pathan (if selected) and Sehwag to fire more than not. Even if three of these guys fire India can beat anyone. Any combination of 3 among these 6 is what India be wanting in ODIs. I'm not including Ganguly, VVS (if selected), Kaif, Raina or anyone else. ODI is a batsmen's game and as long as the batting clicks the team will do well.

[Inside_edge 0]

Re: ?Sachin or Sehwag may have to move down? My comment was not without reason though.Greggy in his interview singled out this guy as the 'point man', for our chances in WI. We all know it does not work that way.

[King 88]

Re: ?Sachin or Sehwag may have to move down?

My comment was not without reason though.Greggy in his interview singled out this guy as the 'point man', for our chances in WI. We all know it does not work that way.

Yeah that is pretty silly for Greg to keep stressing Yuvraj's comeback is all that is required for India to turn the table.

[yoda 76]

Re: ?Sachin or Sehwag may have to move down? Greggy talks crap most of the time.