FORMER India coach Greg Chappell today said Test cricket was too hard for most of the Indian cricketers. Criticising both the Indian cricketing establishment and Indian culture for not producing leaders,he added: They can only make a lot of money playing 20-over cricket. Speaking at the launch of his autobiography Fierce Focus at the Adelaide Writers Week here today,he said: The culture of India is such that,if you put your head above the parapet someone will shoot it. Knock your head off. So they learn to keep their head down and not take responsibility. The Poms (the British) taught them really well to keep their head down. For if someone was deemed to be responsible,theyd get punished. So the Indians have learned to avoid responsibility. He singled out Virender Sehwag for special mention,calling him a derelict who was breaking up the team in his desire to be captain. During a freewheeling chat with co-author Malcolm Knox,Chappell said he had warned Indian cricket administrators of an oncoming downfall back in 2007 while he was still coach. However,he said,the BCCI believed it was more important to retain the highest run-getter in Test cricket (Sachin Tendulkar) than being the best team in the world. Talking about the recent India tour of Australia,he said: It was obvious from the start that the Indians werent really interested in Test cricket. But having worked with many of them and having been in their dressing room,I knew that Test cricket was too hard for most of them. They can only make a lot of money playing 20-over cricket. Fifty-over cricket they can sort of put up with. Test cricket is pretty tough for them. Without the kind of grounding that we (Australians) had as kids,Test cricket is too hard for them. With Tendulkar busy focusing on his hundredth 100,Sehwag a derelict and selectors afraid of making tough calls in a country where nobody wants to take responsibility,Chappell said,the back-to-back Test whitewashes in England and Australia were disasters waiting to happen. The former Aussie captain was then asked by Knox if Zaheer Khans injuries and Sehwags fitness and over-all attitude were a concern even during his coaching days. Dont forget to throw in attitude of Zaheer as well, Chappell replied. In the remarks that followed,Chappell tore into the Indian cricket establishment. We could see that at least four of their top-six batsmen were all going to finish at the same time. I mean,Sehwag was never going to last as long as the other guys in any case,because he was never fit enough, he said. He was derelict,in the sense that he wasnt prepared to work on his talent. And he is an outstanding talent. But almost too talented to want to work at it,or know how to work at it. And he didnt work at it anyway. So you could see Sehwag finishing in his early 30s. According to Chappell,while the administrators wanted him to discipline the players,the difficulty for me as the coach was that Sehwag just sat there and said,Greg,theyre not going to drop me. So why would I work harder than Im working now?. The only player for whom Chappell had kind words was M S Dhoni. Asked if any Indian captain would declare the innings when batting on 329 not out like Michael Clarke in Sydney earlier this year,Chappell claimed that the Indian skipper would. Dhoni is one of the most impressive young men that I have ever worked with. Very confident,very un-Indian in that regard. However,he added,the rift between Dhoni and Sehwag was having a toll on the captain. The system has worn Dhoni down too. Just looking at him on this tour,it wasnt the M S Dhoni I knew. The undercurrent around the dressing room cannot be of help, said Chappell. With the exception of Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble,he went on to add,for most of the Indian players,the major concern was staying in the team. Because the financial implications of being an Indian cricketer were considerable. The problem,according to Chappell,wasnt just in the corridors of Indian cricket,but with Indian culture. The culture is very different,its not a team culture. They lack leaders in the team because they are not trained to be leaders. From an early age,their parents make all the decisions,then their school teachers,then their cricket coaches. The Australian added that he had hoped to have a longer career as Indian coach. But at the end of the two years,it was obvious that something had to give. And the easiest thing to give was probably me. And I certainly wasnt prepared to injure my health in the cause to try and help Indian cricket.
