The Hindu : Sport : Individual performance secondary: Chappell

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 22, 2005

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Individual performance secondary: Chappell

'I need to know the fringe players'

NEW DELHI: Making individual stars of the Indian cricket team shine brightly together will be the key task for Greg Chappell, and the Aussie legend, who took over as India's cricket coach, seems well aware of that.

``Cricket is an intriguing game. There are a lot of individual efforts that go towards team effort, but the individual performance comes secondary to team requirements,'' Chappell said in his maiden interaction with the Indian media soon after his appointment on Friday.

``That is part of the discipline and that will be an area that we will be working on through the time I am involved with the team,'' he said.

Chappell also sought to dismiss talk on pitches of low bounce in India and the need to improve them.

``What I would like to see is that the best cricket wicket that is possible,'' he said.

``There is a misnomer about how involved the players, captains, and coaches around the world are about the playing conditions.

``All I would expect from the local authorities is the best cricket wicket possible under the given conditions.

``If we can do that and put the right players on the field, then that is all we can ask for.''

Chappell said he needed to assess the bench strength as part of his ``broad brush of his vision for Indian cricket.''

``I need to know the fringe players, that's the reason to involve them early. I have to know what's out there so that we can look at the right balance,'' he said.

``Because on a different day, we will need a different balance against different opposition, who is in and out of form.

``So there is going to be more requirement than just 11 or 12 players, I need to come to grips with them sooner rather than later.''

The former Australian captain said he would be discussing his vision with the players in his first meetings with them next month.

``I have a broad brush of what my vision is for Indian cricket, and that is of commitment to excellence.

``But within that there will be a whole range of issues. They will come to light individually as it unfolds.''

The 57-year-old also had a plea to the Indian media, whom he saw as a part of the whole set up.

"... I promise I will do my best to respect your professionalism. If you can do your best to respect mine and ours as a team. I can't be available to you 24x7, there will be times when I have to say `no.'

``If we can start our relationship on a professional basis, we can achieve what we all want to achieve.'' — PTI

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