Greg to push killer instinct

In the presentation to the BCCI that clinched his job, Greg Chappell stated that the 8216;8216;next important step8217;8217; for the Ind...

In the presentation to the BCCI that clinched his job, Greg Chappell stated that the 8216;8216;next important step8217;8217; for the Indian cricket team was 8216;8216;winning the crucial moments8217;8217;. He couldn8217;t be more right: The biggest problem for the team in the past couple of years has been losing, or drawing, from a winning position.

8216;8216;Team India regularly gets into winning positions but is not turning these moments to its advantage8217;8217;, Chappell8217;s presentation noted. 8216;8216;Given this is a critical difference between good and great teams, a focus on this area is proposed as essential for the team to build on the tremendous progress it has made under Wright.8217;8217;

So he says his most critical challenge will be 8216;8216;facilitating group learnings to seize the moment8217;8217; and moving beyond the current team mindset where they often let things roll along in the field, give away too many easy runs and panic while chasing runs.

Incidentally, Wright, through his stint, often pointed out that the players relaxed after a victory, which affected their performance in the next outing. In one-day tournaments, India8217;s entry into the final usually depended on the last league game, where they performed well, only to lose in the final.

India8217;s record in the 12 ODI tournament finals played under Ganguly is Won 1, Lost 9 8212; and declared joint winners in two rain-washed finals.

In bilateral one-day series, only Zimbabwe were beaten at home and the West Indies and Pakistan away. They lost at home to the West Indies, Australia and Pakistan 8212; the latter after taking a 2-0 lead in the series.

There have been several instances in Test matches too but four stand out for the sheer ineptness of the Indian performance, when the senior players failed to deliver see box:

nbsp;	When the big guns misfired

		nbsp;	8226; Tendulkar At Jamaica 41 038; 86 At Harare : 20 038; 69 At B8217; lore: 41 038; 16 8226; Ganguly At Jamaica 36 038; 28 At Harare : 9 038; 0 At B8217; lore: 1 038; 2 8226; Dravid At Jamaica 5 038; 30 At Harare : 68 038; 26 At Colombo 36 038; 36 At B8217; lore: 22 038; 16 8226; Laxman At Jamaica 65 038; 23 At Harare : 15 038; 20 At B8217; lore: 79 038; 5 8226; Sehwag At B8217; lore: 201 038; 38 Story continues below this ad	nbsp;

8226; Against Zimbabwe at Harare in 2001, six wickets fell on the fourth morning and the last seven wickets fell for just 37 runs

8226; Against Sri Lanka, India lost the third Test and the series despite the openers putting on a 100-run stand. The middle order of Dravid, Ganguly, Kaif and Badani scored just 82 runs between them

8226; After winning their first Test in more than two decades in the West Indies in 2002, India failed to save the last Test when the middle-order could not sustain the final session of the fourth day with a heavy rain forecast for day five. Result: a 2-1 series defeat.

8226; In Bangalore two months ago, all the team had to do was believe in their ability and bat positively to at least save the match. They failed on both counts

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Though Chappell8217;s presentation 8212; which runs into more than 3,500 words 8212; speaks highly of the depth in batting, these defeats have come from a failure of the batsmen to deliver when the chips are down.

The new coach will have to reinvent the side, force it to inculcate a work ethic; an ability to sense the right moment to move in for the kill.

Chappell will have to teach them the importance of scoring runs when it matters; underline the importance of getting the basics of the game right consistently even under pressure.