‘T20 hasn’t improved batting’
Chappell says art of survival has gone down dramatically due to focus on shorter format
well. But the white ball has got to be better than what it is.
Australia has been in the forefront of training away from the field. Have leaps in training methods been translated as much into cricket like, say tennis? What about fitness levels in cricket, especially India players?
It has improved enormously, and if you want to pick a time when it started I would say
IPL. With the overseas players coming into the IPL, the Indian players saw what they were doing and picked up. India, the last time they toured Australia, handled the physical side of the tour a lot better than some of the previous sides. But I have never lifted a weight in my life. I thought I could hit a four in any ground in the world. Some fast bowlers believe in weightlifting, and because I wasn’t a fast bowler I won’t argue with them. But I never had anyone put forward a convincing argument to me that building up the muscles and so on is a great advantage in cricket. They might hit a lot of sixes, etc, but a lot of that has got to do with timing and the bats. I don’t see how playing a game of soccer before a game of cricket helps.
What is your opinion on wives and girlfriends travelling with the team? We have had unnecessary controversies over Virat Kohli’s girlfriend Anushka Sharma.
It is an individual thing. Some guys get homesick very quickly, so it helps them to have their girlfriend of wife or some family there. If it is going to help them, I would say let him do it. If some other guy says ‘I don’t want the wife anywhere near, it affects my game’, well she doesn’t come.
The Board shouldn’t interfere in it?
I don’t think it is feasible. I always thought as a captain that cricket is a team game but played by individuals. I wanted the older guys in my team to be an individual because that is part of what makes you a good player. If it starts to encroach on the team being together, then as a captain you got to address that and sort it out. But the less rules and regulations you have the better.