The Hindu : Sport : ‘Wright adapted better than Chappell’

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Monday, Sep 03, 2007
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Sport

‘Wright adapted better than Chappell’

— Photo: AP

SPEAKING OUT: Rahul Dravid believes India’s cricketing culture has to change if the team has to become successful.

London: Considered an ally of Greg Chappell during the Aussie’s eventful stint with the Indian cricket team, captain Rahul Dravid says that the former coach could not adapt to his role as well as his Kiwi predecessor John Wright.

Dravid said both Chappell and Wright had difficulty in coming to terms with certain aspects of the Indian dressing room, but while the New Zealander was willing to compromise a bit, the Aussie wanted to rule with an iron fist.

“Tension is a good thing within a team, but it needs to be creative, not destructive. John Wright had similar problems at the start but unlike Greg he was prepared to adapt.

“By the end he (Wright) was more Indian than the Indians,” Dravid said in an interview to former England captain Michael Atherton for ‘The Sunday Telegraph’ here.

The 34-year-old became only the fifth Indian captain to lead his side to a Test series triumph in England but he maintains that a defeat in the one-day series could invite the daggers again.

Tough job

Asked if he found captaining India a burden in such a scenario, Dravid said, “burden is too strong a word and people say that because of how I look. I’m not naturally a cheery-looking soul on the field.

“I do enjoy it but there are aspects I find tough. What I find hardest is the absolute lack of proportion. It makes it very hard to build a team when two or three bad games provoke such an extreme reaction.”

Dravid suggested changes for Indian cricket, which he felt was the need of the hour.

“Our cricketing culture has to change to some extent. It is an athletic game now and we have to instil these processes into our young cricketers. “Our Academy has got to become more professionally run and we must manage our own contracted players much better.” — PTI

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