Former Australian skipper Greg Chappell has lauded the current National Cricket Academy (NCA) head Rahul Dravid for India’s success with their young guns.
Chappell claimed that Dravid had emulated the Australian coaching system at the junior levels in his country.
“India have got their act together and that’s largely because Rahul Dravid has picked our brains, seen what we’re doing and replicated it in India and with their much larger (population) base,” the Unley-born stated.
Chappell also opined that though Aussies were the best in developing youngsters but have currently ignored their developing players.
“Historically, we’ve been one of the best at developing young players and keeping them in the system, but I think that’s changed in the last couple of years. I’m seeing a bunch of young players with great potential who are in limbo. That’s unacceptable. We cannot afford to lose one player,” the former South Australia coach expounded.
The 72-year-old asserted that India and England had left his nation far behind when it came to identifying talent.
“I think we’ve already lost our position as the best at identifying talent and bringing it though. I think England are doing it better than us now and India are doing it better than us,” he admitted.
Comparing the budding players of the two counties, Chappell pointed out that fresh talents who took the field for India during the Brisbane Test and defeated the mighty Australians were already accustomed to playing in different conditions. In contrast, his compatriot Will Pucovski had hardly been in a game outside Down Under.
“When you look at the Indian team that played in the Brisbane Test that had three or four fresh players, and everyone said, ‘This is India’s second XI’ those guys had played (extensively) for India A. And in all sorts of different conditions, not just in India. So when they get picked, they’re not tyros at all, they’re quite hardened international cricketers. We picked Will Pucovski out of Shield cricket. Will has hardly had a game outside Australia. That’s the difference,” Chappell concluded.
