• It’s poetic justice that you never came to play in India and you have to be responsible for all of Indian cricket.
Well, it’s probably the only gap in my cricket CV that I never got to play cricket here, so it’s good from my point of view that I get to spend some time involved with Indian cricket. Mine is probably one of the—if not the—most exciting jobs in cricket. I think India is the epicentre of cricket. Financially, in numbers, it is the epicentre of cricket. Hopefully in time, on the field, too, it would be the epicentre of cricket, and lead cricket into the later part of this century.
• We got to the World Cup semifinal last year, we’ve done brilliant Test cricket, and in fact we’re the only team to have run Australia very close. What’s been lacking, why has India been not able to bridge the narrow gap with Australia?
It was not a narrow gap between anyone and Australia. Back in the mid-80s Australia went through a lean period and that was the birth of what we see now. The administration, the selectors, everybody involved with cricket in Australia just sat down and said, ‘Ok, the West Indies are dominating, we need to work out how to reach that level and go beyond’. The planning that went in at that stage was an important part of what we see today. I don’t see anyone else in world cricket who has done that. Perhaps England has tried, in recent times, to bridge that gap.
• Why has India not had two years in its history when it dominated world cricket, like Australia, or the West Indies, or even England in the past?
I think it’s more than just physical talent that has allowed Australia and West Indies before them to dominate cricket. The West Indians had a very powerful pace quartet, a very powerful batting side, and probably the best fielding side that I have ever seen in cricket. But there was the desire, there was the hunger, there was the need for them to play well, and I think that’s what we see with the Australian team in the last 15 years, there’s been desperation to play well. To be a champion team takes more than just putting 11 good players on the field and hoping that they are going to play well. There is a lot more to it, there is a lot of hard work that goes in behind the scenes, there is a lot of hard work that goes in the preparations, and then in the execution. And it’s day in, day out. I don’t think many people realise just how hard it is to be on top for that length of time.
• This is something that intrigues me, how are India able to raise their game against Australia? Even when they are down in the dumps, they somehow raise themselves against Australia, not just at home, but also in Australia.
There was a series in Australia a couple of years ago, an excellent series. There were some very good individual performances, but it was also a very good team performance. I think a part of that was the planning and preparations of John Wright and Saurav Ganguly, who played a big part in that. Saurav’s vision for what he wanted from that team was also an important part.
• What is it that he wanted, what agenda did he set for the team and what did he get right? He got something right.
Yeah, he wanted India to do well, he wanted India to do better overseas than ever before and I think I felt that there was vulnerability about Australia then that could be exploited.
• We really should have won at Sydney.
They probably should have won that series. Yes, the Sydney Test match was wonderful, it was there to be won and they couldn’t quite finish it off.
• You find this hunger, this desperation in flashes, and then you find this team performing so inconsistently. It goes low down, it loses to Sri Lanka, it does badly against Pakistan, it struggles against Zimbabwe. Why such scratchy performances?
Well, very few people realise just how hard it is to mentally as well as physically keep backing up day after day and putting in a premier performance. And that’s why I think the strength of the Australian team is not so much about the stars of that team, but what I would call the second-tier players, the guys who are not the superstars of the team, but keep putting in day after day. Somebody puts their hand up when one or two or three of their top players maybe goes through a lean patch or has a bad game. Now people like Justin Langer, Justin Langer is an unsung hero in the Australian team, Damien Martyn, Kasprowich was the prime example.
• Martyn won the series for you, while you were in Australia, now you are ours.
That’s right.
• He won that series for Australia. In fact, but for him, Australia would have lost the series at Chennai.
I think that’s the key to the success of the Australian team. There is a uniformity in effort that is critical to their performance, and there is a strength and a unity in the Australian teams, Australian sporting teams, forget about the Australian cricket team, that is rarely duplicated anywhere else in the world.
• Australia is a great sporting nation.
Well, I think that is more about the environment, the culture of sport in Australia.
• I believe so much so that they are even trying to crack baseball now. I believe your son is a baseball star.
That’s right.
• The younger one.
The youngest one plays baseball and he chose baseball over a number of sports that he could have played, but baseball has been around. I play baseball, Ian (Chappell) actually played baseball before he represented Australia for cricket. So you know baseball has been around for a long time, our grandfather played a lot of baseball and my father played baseball, so that’s also a part of our sporting heritage.
• I believe it was your grandfather who advised Australian cricketers to stand up to Bodyline, and to take the blows on their body, wasn’t it?
Yes, he played in that series. He captained Australia in a few Test matches back in the 1930s, and was known for his fighting spirit, I think that’s a part of our generic inheritance.