Wadekar flays Chappell's experiments, bats for Indian coach

Agra, Nov 22 (UNI) Commenting that too much of experiments, being carried out by Indian cricket team coach Greg Chappell, was spoiling the performance of Team India, former Indian cricket captain Ajit Wadekar today said there was no need of a foreign coach as the task could well be taken up by former Indian players.

Taking to UNI here, Mr Wadekar said while the cricket World Cup was round the corner, excessive experiments in the team strategy could boomrang on the team. ''Now is the time to stop experiments and strike the right combination ahead of the WC.'' Batting for an Indian coach, the former chief selector claimed the foreign coach was not indispensable for Indian team. ''We have no dearth of able former Indian players to take up the job.'' Observing that Team India's performance had been far from being consistent during the last one-and-a-half years, Wadekar said the unnecessary experiments in batting order and bowling combinations have proved detrimental to the team's confidence. ''All the players should be sure about their role in the team which, sadly, is not the case,'' he pointed out.

Describing Saurav Ganguly as the best ever cricket captain, he said the talented left hander had all the capability to stage a come back in the team by his consistent good performance in the domestic cricket. ''His come back is possible only if he scores heavily in the domestic circuit,'' he advised.

In a guarded comment on the captaincy of Rahul Dravid, the yesteryear's stylish batsman from Mumbai said the former had still to prove himself as a leader. ''Dravid is among the best batsmen in the world, but as a captain, he will have to inspire his team in certain trying occasions,'' he opined.

The former Indian cricketer was also not appreciative of Indian coach Greg Chappel's innovative methods for players' fitness.

''The new methods have adversly affected the practice regime and have been a failure,'' he said adding, ''they are cricketers and not part of a kabaddi, kho kho or baseball squad.'' UNI SB VS DKA GC1527