Chappell’s hindsight sees grave mistakes

Coach Greg Chappell has admitted that Team India may have taken the wrong turn in the first Test against the West Indies, even before the first ball was bowled — by opting to bat first.

Coach Greg Chappell has admitted that Team India may have taken the wrong turn in the first Test against the West Indies, even before the first ball was bowled — by opting to bat first.

“The conditions weren’t easy for batsmen yesterday. We won the toss and elected to bat. On hindsight, that may not have been the right thing to do. The West Indies bowled pretty well, maybe 300 was a more likely score on this wicket,” Chappell told reporters here after the West Indies logged a 77-run lead over India on the second day.

“It wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on (on the first day),” said Chappell, minutes after West Indian star Chris Gayle admitted that the “wicket is much better now. There’s not much turn in it, but the ball’s coming on nicely, it will suit the batsmen. It was a bit difficult in the first innings, but as you bat longer the balls tends to come on more.”

Chappell insisted that the inexperienced Indian pace attack were “the best the team had for the conditions” but agreed that they didn’t “bowl consistently well in the right lengths”.

“We’ve got one guy playing his first game, and a couple of others playing very early in their careers. It takes time, you can’t put an old head on young shoulders. It only comes from experience. There’s only one way to find out and I think we learnt a few things today. We have talked about length and all of those things, but until you actually experienced it and suffered at the hands of batsmen from time to time, you don’t learn it. I can’t think of many bowlers whom I have played against that have come into Test cricket as finished articles. So it takes a bit of time,” said Chappell.

Even if Virender Sehwag took two wickets late on the second day, Chappell stressed that the team couldn’t “afford to play Harbhajan under the conditions”. “We felt that we needed three pace bowlers, there wasn’t a place for a second spin bowler. We knew that Viru could do the job if required and I thought he bowled very well,” he said.

Gayle, after his whirlwind 72, had revealed earlier that the West Indies had decided to put the inexperienced Indian new ball attack — Sreesanth and Munaf Patel — under pressure.

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“Definitely, that was one scenario. We knew it was good to put them under some initial pressure, you never know they might crumble. So I tried to use that advantage and it worked,” said Gayle.

Gayle was particularly severe on Sreesanth, who lost his focus and the basics completely to go for 82 runs in his 13 overs on the second day. Munaf Patel, who took out Daren Ganga and Brian Lara early, fared slightly better and VRV Singh, said Chappell, “did bowl a few good balls”.

Asked about the Indian attack, Gayle said, “They are all capable, good bowlers. But Sreesanth bowled in my slot. You have Anil Kumble, an experienced bowler. There’s no one you can take for granted, they are young with a lot of energy, good pace as well. I am sure they will come back in the second innings, put the ball in the right areas.”

The next step for India, according to Chappell? “We need to bat well in the second innings. We need to steel ourselves for a very good batting performance.”