Even as the Indian team celebrated its sixth Test win of the year, Indian coach John Wright chose to watch from the sidelines, and then go off for his daily jog around the ground, this time with team trainer Greg King. And when the excitement around him had subsided, he shared his views on the year gone by, and the immediate future with The Indian Express. Excerpts from a tete-a-tete after India’s sixth Test win of the year. Do you promise any changes in the upcoming one-day series? It is time to look ahead and re-charge the batteries. I think Dhoni will keep wickets instead of Dravid. If things are not working out, then it is time to move on and try new things. We will have a few changes in the one-day series because our one-day game needs a little revitalisation. Hopefully these guys will supply that. It must have been difficult to motivate the team against such weak opposition. Not at all. You must respect all opposition. It’s all about achieving the goals, the team goals that you set yourselves. Getting that done should help you. What this Test series has done, most importantly, is get the season back on track for us. Things were on a downswing after the poor ODI form and the Australia Test series loss. The win over Australia at Mumbai was the turning point. Nagpur was a disappointment, because we just did not play well. In Chennai, the last day could have been different had it not rained. So all in all we have pulled it back. Of course the last day that was rained out in Chennai, was a huge disappointment. Things would have been so much better otherwise and everything would have been different. Then against South Africa, it was very enjoyable.those are the moments a team works for. Right now England is finding, like we did, that South Africa are a little tough, but we finally did beat them. Do you think the ingredients you brought into the Indian team are still there or have there been changes? The biggest development has been the hunger factor and the work ethic. The hunger really picked up on this tour. Greg’s contribution is also very crucial; the players have been keen to come out, even during optional practice sessions. Off the field too the reserves have been great. There has been some talk of you leaving the job as Indian coach. Do you want to clear the air a bit on the issue? My contract is till the end of this season. And that also includes the Pakistan tour (three Tests at home) and also possibly the Bangladesh series at home. Like any contract, we will look at it and take things as they come once the contract ends. And what happens between now and the Pakistan tour? The boys can take the opportunity and play some domestic cricket. That would be the best place (domestic cricket), for there is a message for everyone. Anyone — be he an incumbent or a newcomer — and everyone will have a chance against Pakistan. So it will be a good testing ground for everyone. SCOREBOARD
