da bet nacional： The Indian team has great faith in experimentation. That was the indication given by the captain-coach combine of Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell
Nagraj Gollapudi in New Delhi08-Oct-2006
Dravid is not overly perturbed: ‘We had a dip because fewof our key players who were really performing well for us … [later] didn’t’ © Getty Images
The Indian team has great faith in experimentation. That was the indication given bythe captain-coach combine of Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell, apart from three members of the Indian squad, who spoke at the team’s media briefing in New Delhi before they kick off their Champions Trophy campaign.Criticised in the media for not having a settledlook yet, with just under six months to go for the World Cup, Greg Chappell clarified that experimentation is basically development of the squad and a “constantprocess.”Giving a positive spin to the experiments, Dravid said that they(experiments) provided results. “What you have always calledexperimentation I have generally called it as strategy, which is whatgives us the best chance to win a game. Whatever strategy will work bestto win a game I will use it. That will depend on the players I have, theform they are in, the fitness of all the players and we have to take a lotof things into consideration that other people are not privy to or [have] accessto.”After a string of successes last year, where India scoredconvincing victories over Sri Lanka, England and Pakistan, the team losttrack first suffering a 4-1 defeat in the Caribbean last season and thenbeing ousted in the tri-nation DLF Cup in Malaysia after managing to winjust one game.The indifferent form of matchwinners like Virender Sehwag, Mahendra SinghDhoni and Irfan Pathan had deeply affected the winning momentum, and thetop order in batting had been shuffled frequently. But seniors likeDravid and Sachin Tendulkar are not losing much sleep. “We had a dip because fewof our key players who were really performing well for us in the period wewere successful haven’t been able to hit perform”, said Dravid, who feltthese were quality players and there was no cause for concern.”Unfortunately in the our last six to seven matches four to five of ourplayers couldn’t click. That is where Australia are good at: they are ableto build a good squad because of the depth they possess. It doesn’t reallymatter if players are out of form as they can always rely on differentpeople,” Dravid added. Instead, he felt that over-reliance on certain players was an areathey should be looking into.Tendulkar, who recently came back during the DLF Cup after a four-monthlayoff, felt that “Not all batsmen are going to be in good form. The oneswho are in good form make it up for the other guys and the same holds forthe bowlers. That adjustment is necessary.” While lending his support forthe team’s flexible methods, Tendulkar thought the need of the hour wasbalance. “Experiments should go on to certain extent. I know it is equallyimportant to settle down and figure individual roles, but that doesn’tmean we should totally stop experimenting. There should be a nicebalance.”Sehwag, who was asked to move down the order to No. 4 in Malaysia, had noqualms adapting to the challenge. Sehwag, who started his career as amiddle order bat, confirmed that he is ready to open in the ChampionsTrophy, but explained “I enjoy batting both as an opener as well in themiddle. More important for me is the challenge. If you are batting in themiddle order and if two or three wickets fall you need to responsible,make runs and at the same time not lose your wicket. When you open theball is new and that is another kind of challenge.”Chappell, who has come in for a lot of flak for his lateral thinking,strongly felt that experiments would benefit in the long run.Refusing to be disappointed about the team’s recent losses, and insteadhappy with the way “Rahul is going about developing the squad”, Chappelltried explaining why what he and his team are doing was necessary. “Thereason that we have done most of these things (experiments) are wellthought through, they are not done at the spur of the moment. Since peopleoutside are not privy to most of our discussions, therefore they are notable to understand what we are trying to do. There are positives that comeout it, like things that individuals learn about themselves, things thatthe individuals learn about the different roles that are required within ateam.”Yet questions remained. A case in point is Irfan Pathan, who is goingthrough an extended bad run with the ball. Dravid adamantly refused tobelieve that and said that his opinion about Pathan remains the same as itwas back when Pathan was performing well with the ball and batting up theorder. “I have always maintained that Irfan Pathan is primarily a bowlerto me first who contributes with the bat. Irfan himself has told us thatbatting up the order has no relevance to his bowling.”Dravid felt it was for the player now to hit back as “There is a certainamount you can do as a captain or a coach. At the end of the day there iscertain thing called individual responsibility and individual performance- you control your own destiny, which is something you should neverforget. We’ve a lot of faith in Irfan and we know how important he is forthe team. We were able to play five bowlers consistently last seasonbecause of the success of Irfan and Dhoni, and I mention them as keyplayers.”Tendulkar felt it was important to have the winning momentum. “Ithas to be with you (momentum) – that is what happened to us in the 2003World Cup where towards the start of the tournament we struggled a bit andtowards the end we were a different lot altogether. That was because westarted gradually but surely, so that was a big turning point for us.”Yuvraj Singh echoed Tendulkar’s thoughts, saying consistency waswhat India need now. “You can’t keep winning for six months and fall awayin the next six months.”