da dobrowin： Greg Chappell has praised the selectors for taking some brave decisionsbefore the series against Sri Lanka
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan13-Nov-2005
The Chappell-Dravid combination worked wonderfully as India wrapped up the one-day series 6-1 © Getty Images
Greg Chappell has praised the selectors for taking some brave decisionsbefore the series against Sri Lanka and said that the emphatic win was achieved due to theattitude, spirit and confidence that prevailed in the squad. Talking to Cricinfo before the last one-day international at Baroda, Chappell said that the team had been in need of reinvigoration and added that their tactical and strategic changes were successful because of the refreshingattitude of the new-look side.”The selectors showed a bit of courage going with a bit of youth for thisseries,” he said, “and I think they deserve credit for the couragein moving down that line because the team was really in need ofreinvigoration. And they took that calculated gamble and the players haverepaid them. We needed to change a few things and our tactics and strategiesneeded a good rethink. I think it would have been hard to do that with theold group. As a coach one thing that I do know is that you can’t teachanything to anyone who doesn’t want to be taught. If you’re not looking tolearn something, you’re really going to struggle. And the one thing aboutthese young guys is that they’re soaking up the information. They want toknow what more can we do to be better. And that attitude makes thecoach’s life much easier.”According to Chappell, the team hadn’t allowed Sri Lanka to play as well asthey could have and said that the youngsters should be judged by the mannerin which they went about their tasks. “Sri Lanka are still a formidable sidebut I think they’ve only played as well as we’ve allowed them to play. We’vebowled with discipline and persistence, fielded really well, battedpositively, built partnerships and continually put pressure on Sri Lanka. Idon’t think they were prepared for the reinvigorated team they came against.I’m not sure they are as bad as people are making out. I just think weoutplayed them and part of that was the way the young blokes went aboutdoing what they did.”He also felt that the spectacular success of promoting Irfan Pathanto No.3 in the batting order, during the opening game atNagpur, was a big factor in the outcome of the series. “The first gameprobably couldn’t have gone any better than it did,” Chappell said, “notleast of all in the choice of Irfan at No.3. We attacked the bowlers, theyweren’t expecting it, and they weren’t expecting Irfan to come in at No.3. Ithink that shook them a little bit. Then probably they might have spent sometime looking at tactics for Irfan at No. 3 and then [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni came in at No.3 inthe third game and was in fact even more successful. I think they struggledto recover from that and it gave our group a real shot in the arm.”Chappell also attributed much of India’s purple patch to Rahul Dravid’sinfluence, and thought that he’s done an impeccable job both as a batsman andas a captain. “Rahul took the job with gusto and he was obviously ready forit,” he said. “It was very important that it became his team. It wasn’t myteam but his team. I’ve said many times that the coach’s role is in helpingprepare the team and in working with the captain and supporting the captain.It’s the captain’s team and certainly on game days, he’s the most importantman. The support staff’s role is to take as much pressure off him during thepreparation period so that he’s got time to devote to developing his owngame and preparing himself properly. And the way he went about the lead-upto the first game, the way he captained the team in the first game and theway he played in that first game has had a huge impact on the team and ahuge impact on the result of this series.”Looking ahead to the five-match series against South Africa, starting onNovember 16 at Hyderabad, Chappell warned that it could be a hard-foughtseries. “We still have the home advantage but South Africa are a toughteam,” he said. “They don’t get beaten easily. The one thing they do is tofight hard and even when they’re down they’re dangerous. But if we can shockthem the same way we shocked Sri Lanka, there’s no reason we can’t push themback and make it hard for them to play to the best of their ability.”