The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Greg Chappell warns against heavy bats

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Greg Chappell warns against heavy bats

Bangalore: Greg Chappell sounded a warning note on the increasing use of heavy bats by young cricketers and the way it hampers development.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the ‘Emerging Media’ talent hunt for Cricket StarTwenty20 here on Thursday, Chappell said: “One of the biggest problems around the world and particularly in India is the use of heavy bats.

“It has a huge influence on the way you move your body and manipulate that bat through a range of movements. It has a huge impact on grip and footwork. And I think the biggest handicap for learning batting in India is this trend of very heavy bats.”

Athletic

“The cricketer of the future has to be athletic, agile and be able to withstand stress. We believe that the eight boys we have selected (from the Bangalore talent hunt) for the camp at our academy in Jaipur, fit the bill,” Chappell said and he also mentioned that the eventual winner of the cricket star event across various cities will be given an IPL contract for 2009 with the Rajasthan Royals team.

Asked whether his “ignore youth at your own peril” stance as the earlier Indian coach has now been vindicated by the emergence of talented youngsters, Chappell said: “I don’t want to comment on that and it is for other people to judge. You do ignore youth at your own peril in any sport.

“The best teams are always trying to improve, because if you are not going forward then you are going backwards. A team is never a finished article and you need new energy.”

Chappell also cautioned that international debuts will be hastened by the shorter forms of the game. “Cricketers will make debuts earlier in the short forms of the game. If you look back at someone like Rahul Dravid, he had a long gestation period. But now we have players starting out with the express form of the game and if youngsters don’t have a wide range of skills, they will struggle,”

Chappell said besides adding that the focus on sledging in recent times has been over the top. “There has always been chatter on the field and good players learn to deal with it, otherwise you will fall by the wayside. I think the media finds sledging sexy and has overblown it,” Chappell said.

The selected trainees are: P. Magizhendan, S. Vinodh, Sanjay Kumar, K. Gowtham, N. Manish, Abrar Kazi, Rajesh Kumar Singh and David Mathias. — Principal Correspondent

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