by to stay after WC2007 and will only accept offer on his own terms....
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Cape Town, November 24:
Cutting through the fog over the future of Team India after coach Greg
Chappell's contract ends with the last ball of the World Cup next
April, the first ray of light is beginning to peep through.
If the BCCI top guns ask Chappell to continue to be coach of India
after the big event, he "won't say no." But only if they commit
to fully back his carefully worked-out long-term vision for the
development of cricket in India. And strengthen his involvement in the
"development process", starting with first-class cricket.
It is a vision that he believes would take at least five years to put
in place-two have already gone by. Besides support for the backroom
work that he has been putting into the team, the coach hopes that the
officialdom will continue to:
Back his vision of developing young players and ***ing them into
the cricket team in a phased, planned manner.
Increase his level of involvement at the domestic level to help him
set up a strong feeder line into the international level so that
"Indian cricket doesn't go the hockey way".
For, Chappell believes that this route is the only way for Indian
cricket to get the right answer to this big question: how will the
country cope after the premier players, especially the leading batsmen,
reach the last legs of their international career?
Rahul Dravid is 33, Sachin Tendulkar is 33, VVS Laxman is 32 and the
coach is sure that for India to fill those shoes sometime in the few
years to come, the process has to start now. He has begun, in his own
to way, to identify the next line.
The development and continued backing of proven talent like Yuvraj
Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and potential young talent like Suresh
Raina is part of that process, he says. On the bowling front, Munaf
Patel, Sreesanth, R P Singh, and even rookie leg-spinner Piyush Chawla,
Chappell be lieves, will be the frontrunners in shouldering the Indian
attack for the long-term.
With the young bowlers already beginning to shape up, it is the batting
that Chappell would like to focus on a first-priority basis. Of course,
there will be the short-term adjustments, like the inclusion of veteran
Dinesh Mongia to beef up the middle in Yuvraj's absence.
But the Indian middle order pops up as a serious area of concern. Even
now, the coach wants youngsters like Raina, who will turn 20 on Monday,
to be backed because he believes he is taking the load far in excess of
what any player who's being ***ed into a team has to. And that's
why he's desperately hoping that the Indian top-order - with maybe
the exception of skipper Rahul Dravid - steps in to shoulder the burden
more, giving players like Dhoni and Raina room to grow.
However, it's a vision that has attracted its fair share of critics
eversince Chappell took over from India's first foreign coach John
Wright in May 2005. It's also a vision that the BCCI may not be
completely in sync with-it's believed that the knives are already
being sharpened for the Australian, with quite a lot hinging on this
South Africa series.
But Chappell seems sure that this is the only way ahead. "It's not
about me. I could be gone, and there may be others. But this is what I
strongly believe has to be done for the good of Indian cricket,"
Chappell told this newspaper at the team hotel in Cape Town.
Interesting days ahead then, for Indian cricket. But first comes
Sunday, when India take on South Africa at the Newlands stadium staring
at a 0-1 margin after the Durban drowning. And as Dravid said, it's
time to stand up and be counted.