Kapil Dev slams Greg Chappell

Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Watch the interview on December 10, 2006

(To watch the full interview, tune in to ‘Frankly Speaking ‘this Sunday (December 10 at 02:30 pm and 08:30 pm, only on TIMES NOW Weekend)

Former Indian captain Kapil Dev has launched a scathing attack on Greg Chappell's coaching style and Rahul Dravid's inability to take independent decisions.

Kapil Dev's tongue-lashing is bound to focus attention more closely on the manner in which Team India is being led and managed at a time when it is underperforming.

Kapil’s scorching comments were made during the course of an exclusive interview to TIMES NOW’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami in the programme ‘Frankly Speaking. Here is an excerpt:

“There’s too much about Greg Chappell”

K: I think as a cricketer, too many shuffles and too much experimenting is happening. Again, I'm not with them, and I don't know, but... I feel in our system too much experimenting doesn't really work, because we haven't come to that age when we are ready to take experimentation and say, ok, so what, we can still win with other boys.

A: But isn't that the only option before Greg Chappell, that he's got to get the mix right?
K: What is Greg Chappell? He is a manager managing the boys.

A: But he is the coach of the Indian team.
K: So? We didn't have a coach, and we also played cricket. It’s the captain. If the captain doesn't want to take the responsibility then the manager will take it. When you're bowling, making changes in the field, it's not Greg Chappell who’s saying put a slip, put a fielder on mid-on or mid-off, no. It is entirely captain and vice captain and the team that have to work together.

But...I think we are talking too much about Greg Chappell, Greg Cappell, Greg Chappell. For what? He is a good, experienced man who has come out to help our country. Very nice. But I think the boys have to work together. And his is the guiding force there, to say ‘Ok I will give you the confidence’, if somebody's morale is down, then Greg Chappell comes out and does that. But Greg Chappell is not going to play for Sachin, or Rahul. The players have to play themselves.

A: You said, there's 'over-coaching going on right now'.
K: Frankly, let's ask ourselves: Who gets coaching? Does Sachin need coaching? No. Does Rahul need coaching? No. They need a little adjustment which anybody sitting out can do.

A: You were coach at one point of time.
K: I managed the players, my job is to lift the team and motivate them from outside. That's what the manager/coach's job is.

A: So would you tell Rahul Dravid, ‘don't let Greg Chappell advise you too much about the tactics of the game’?
K: No - I think it's a mix and match, you can't say don't do this or that. Whatever is good for the team, do that.

A: But what's your hunch. Kapil Dev I really want you to be frank today. Do you think Rahul Dravid should assert himself more a little as a captain?
K: Definitely, definitely.

A: Vis-à-vis Greg Chappell as well?
K: It doesn't matter where Greg Chappell is. 80% is Rahul Dravid. I’d say to him, You are a captain. You have to stand up and start taking a call, not pushing anyone in front. You're good enough and we respect you, I think you are great, the cricket you played in the last ten years - I think nobody's better than you. So you have to take a call ... and take Greg Chappell with you .

Greg Chappell - or Sunil Gavaskar or Ravi Shastri, Dilip vengsarkar or Mohinder Amarnath - we can all only guide you. But it's up to you to make the kill.

A: Are we being too tough on Greg Chappell? There have been these views, that he's only trying to get the Indian team out of this defeatist mindset. Do you think the Indian team has a defeatist mindset, or has suffered from it in the past?
K: It has. I think you need to motivate, that is what a Greg Chappell requires to do - tell them, 'No boys, you don’t think like this, think like that.' Because our thinking can be a little down, from which we have to lift ourselves - because our culture is like that.

A: Why is that so? Rudy Webster, he's a psychiatrist who was brought in by Greg Chappell, he said 'India's problem is in the head'.
K: So let us handle it ourselves. Who is Rudy Webster? What does he know about our culture? When this type of people come out and talk about my country... We know ourselves. Does he know in 5,000 years how we have lived? It's a different culture, you can't change anybody overnight.

A: Does Kapil Dev have a problem with a foreigner coming and advising the team?
K: No, I love them....

(To watch the full interview, tune in to ‘Frankly Speaking ‘this Sunday (December 10 at 02:30 pm and 08:30 pm, only on TIMES NOW Weekend)