The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Greg Chappell surprised at Chopra's omission

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 17, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Greg Chappell surprised at Chopra's omission

DUBAI, OCT. 16. Former Australian captain Greg Chappell has said that the decision to drop opener Akash Chopra for the second Test at Chennai was surprising.

In an interview to the Gulf News daily, he said, "I wanted them (India) to do something to surprise the opposition. But dropping Chopra was not exactly what I expected. He played so well in Australia. The team-management had to give him more confidence."

Criticising the Indian think-tank for the decision, he said, "they dropped him after a failure in the first Test. In that sense, the whole Indian team had failed to put up a good show in Bangalore. But only Chopra faced the axe. I really am surprised."

Chappell also expressed his reservations at Yuvraj Singh as an opener.

"That's okay if it brings results. Actually, the Indians have to bat well. Unless they do so, it can't be said whether their decision to open with Yuvraj has clicked. However, it's a positive sign for the Indians since they have changed their predictable approach."

Chappell agreed with Sunil Gavaskar's viewpoint that the Indian batsmen were still in the "one-day mode."

"They have been playing one-day cricket and I thought their batsmen would not carry their lean-patches to Test cricket. But they did so in Bangalore, which is a worrying factor. The Australians can be under pressure only when they have to face a big target."

He, however, seemed impressed by the Indian bowling attack.

"I think the bowlers did a tremendous job in the second innings in Bangalore and I didn't see any problem there. In fact, it's the runs the batsman have to put on the board in order to make the bowlers look more dangerous," he said. — UNI

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