da bet7： Greg Chappell wasn’t a happy man after a game in which India had SouthAfrica in deep strife at 76 for 6, and yet managed to capitulate to an106-run defeat.
Dileep Premachandran at Cape Town26-Nov-2006
Shame on the rookies: Veteran Anil Kumble runs out Mark Boucher by smartly deflecting the ball onto the stumps © Getty Images
Greg Chappell wasn’t a happy man after a game in which India had SouthAfrica in deep strife at 76 for 6, and yet managed to capitulate to an106-run defeat. He insisted that there was no easy answers and no obvioussolutions as the team continued on the downward spiral in the one-daygame. After winning 21 of 29 matches last season, they have managed justthree wins from 14 matches since.”We were outplayed in all departments of the game,” said Chappell, whoadded that the dropped catches – South Africa took all their chances -made all the difference. “We are not playing well enough. That’s the basicproblem. Too many players are out of form, key players are not doing well.”I am not sure whether there is a solution other than working hard. Wehave to try and turn things around. It has got to come from the players.They’ve got to dig deep and find a way to do it.”He refused to single out individuals for criticism, and said that tacticslike trying Dinesh Karthik in the middle order would continue to beemployed until a corner was turned. “We are struggling and we need to trysomething different,” he said. “Indian batting teams with bettercredentials have struggled under these conditions before. The ballbouncing between waist and chest is not something that happens regularlyin India. It takes some adjusting and I don’t think we are doing it wellat the moment.”There has got to be a big physical and big mental effort. We’ve got intowinning positions but haven’t finished them off. There are some criticalareas where we are falling off. We missed a few opportunities after theywere 76 for 6 and that was the turning point of the game.”When asked whether the failure of the other batsmen to deliver heaped evenmore pressure on Rahul Dravid’s shoulders, Chappell said: “It puts a lotof pressure on the captain, but then again that comes with the territory.There’s a lot of responsibility on him. He’s a key player and he’sexpected to do well. But he needs support. You can’t rely on one or twoplayers. There has to be a consistent effort from the team.”Following the 157-run defeat at Kingsmead, there had been calls inparliament for Chappell to be sacked. When asked about such remarks, hesaid, tongue firmly in cheek, “They are entitled to make any comment theylike. That’s what they are paid to do in parliament.” As for the fans,whose mood turns uglier with each reverse, he could only say: “There’s notmuch you can say at this stage. This is the squad we’ve got till the endof the series, and we’ve got to work hard.”At the moment, hard work alone looks unlikely to salvage this series. Aflash of inspiration like that provided by Justin Kemp today is what the team iscrying out for, but in these conditions, it’s hard to see where it’s goingto come from.