PTI

Chappell Confident about Tendulkar's Form 

Rawalpindi: Indian coach Greg Chappell insisted on Friday that Sachin Tendulkar was never out of form as was made out by the media and he felt it was only a matter of time before the champion batsman will make a big score.

"I did not think he was out of form, to be honest. I thought his innings in the second innings of the third Test showed some good portents. I expected him to make some runs. I made a few comments at the the end of the Test match that it will be only be a matter of time before he made a big score.

"I found the overreaction to what's supposed to be his lack of form quite interesting because I personally thought he was batting good," Chappell said ahead of the second one-day international against Pakistan here tomorrow.

"He got some runs. We need everyone to get runs consistently. He's still one of the best players we have got and he's one of the best players around world cricket. We are lucky to have him." Tendulkar, who had a poor Test series in terms of runs, made a superb 100 in the first one-dayer at Peshawar which India lost by seven runs by the D/L method after the game was stopped due to bad light when Pakistan were 311 for 7 after 47 overs chasing India's imposing 328.

Chappell said India were obviously keen to win tomorrow's match to level the series 1-1 as he also sounded quite happy with most of the things that his team did at Peshawar. PTI

Harbhajan ruled out of second Indo-Pak ODI

Rawalpindi: spinner Harbhajan Singh has been ruled out of the second one-day international against Pakistan to be held here tomorrow as he had not fully recovered from the finger injury.
Team India coach Greg Chappell said the off-spinner, who injured his bowling finger during nets before the first ODI in Peshawar, was not fit and could not play the match.

"He is not fit. At the moment it does not look like he can play," Chappell told reporters here. PTI

Testing time for Greg is to come now: Amarnath

Kolkata: Known for his apathy towards foreign coaches, former India international Mohinder Amarnath today said the ongoing Pakistan series would be the 'testing time' for coach Greg Chappell.

"I think the testing time (for Chappell) is coming now. We have to wait and see how the team plays in the rest of the matches in Pakistan," Amarnath, who himself was an aspirant for the coach's job along with the Aussie great, said here.

While declining to comment on Chappell's coaching methods, Amarnath said the initial success of the team under his stewardship was on the domestic soil and the performance in Pakistan would be the real test of the merit of his coaching.

Amarnath, who was here to conduct a coaches' clinic organised by the Cricket Association of Bengal, reiterated his apathy towards foreign coaches.

Sharing the dais with former BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya, a key member of the panel that selected Chappell, Amarnath said "I am the last person to encourage foreign coaches. Why do you underestimate our own people? We understand the languages, emotions, cultures of the players much better".

While evading a direct reply to questions on controversies centering on Sourav Ganguly and his exclusion from the ODI squad, Amarnath said "you should ask the selection committee and the coach ... Being an outsider I don't know what is happening in the dressing room. But there should not be any controversy within the team".

About the sagging form of batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, Amarnath said "I don't think this is the end of his career".