Greg Chappell, former Australian skipper believes Australia is no longer the best at identifying talent and that the country has lost the bragging right of calling itself the best at it.
While Greg Chappell had a controversial run as the head coach of Team India, the former Australian captain had earlier praised the visitors after their stunning and historic 2-1 Test series win versus Australia to retain the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Greg Chappell: Australia Have Lost Position As The Best At Identifying Talent As England And India Are Doing Better Than Australia
Greg Chappell opined other countries like England and India have taken over.
“I think we’ve already lost our position as the best at identifying talent and bringing it through. I think England is doing it better than us now and India is doing it better than us,” Greg Chappell told cricket.com.au.
During the 2020/21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India fought back after losing the first Test to win the series 2-1, almost with second and third-string teams. The side was plagued with injuries to its key players in each department and was also without regular talismanic skipper Virat Kohli after the first Test.
Being 1-0 down, losing the services of regular skipper Virat Kohli due to his paternity leave, having lost several key players like Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, and Ravindra Jadeja due to injuries, a second-string Ajinkya Rahane-led India staged a comeback for the ages as they won their second straight Test series on Australian soil.
Greg Chappell: Indian Second String Players Have Played For India A Throughout The World Whereas Australia Had Picked Cricketers From Domestic Tournaments
Greg Chappell admitted the remarkable Test series victory bore testament to India’s highly effective player development system. On that tour, every youngster put their hand up and put his best foot forward.
“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,” said Chappell.
“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.”
On the other hand, Australian debutants Will Pucovski and Cameron Green had limited experience playing outside their home country.
“We picked Will Pucovski out of Shield cricket. Will has hardly had a game outside Australia. That’s the difference,” Chappell pointed out.
India’s next Test assignment is the tour to England. They will first play the World Test Championship final against New Zealand followed by a five-match Test series against the hosts England.
After a tough home loss to India, the Australian men’s side were due to head to South Africa for three Tests, however, that series was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The limited-overs tour of New Zealand for five T20s still took place, with the Black Caps prevailing 3-2.
Australia is set to make a belated trip to Bangladesh later this year for their first tour since 2017. Not for the Tests originally scheduled as part of the World Test Championship, but instead for T20Is intended as warm-ups for the T20 World Cup meant to be hosted by India soon afterwards. Bangladesh is also to host England for white-ball games ahead of the T20 World Cup, meaning a triangular series may be arranged.