Team India to continue with experiments

NEW DELHI, Oct 8: Captain Rahul Dravid and coach Greg Chappell today defended their policy of testing various combinations in one-day cricket and said the "experiments" would continue in the lead up to the World Cup.

Dravid said there was no clear-cut point where a team could stop experimenting, which he said was necessary to build a side.

"Winning is important, results are critical. But you can’t take away the fact that you have to develop the squad," Dravid said.

"You cannot say this is the point where you stop. Building a side is always important and so it has to continue. Else you will fall backwards."

Chappell was more forthright.

"The World Cup is still far off. The experiments will continue till around the time of the World Cup," he said.

"If other teams feel that they have settled on their combination, it is their issue. We will continue with what we have set out to do."

Dravid said the word experimentation was a misnomer.

"I would call that strategising. If you want to call it experimentation and be negative about it, I can’t change it," he said.

"The idea is to get the best team on the field to win. I have never taken my eyes off that (to win). Whatever it takes to achieve it, we will do that.

"It depends on a variety of factors. Form and fitness of the players and the conditions."

Chappell said he was confident about what he was doing with the team.

"I am happy with the way how things have gone so far. The players know their job, they know why they have been asked to do certain things," the former Australian captain said.

"Till we have evaluated the opposition, we won’t know the combination. If there is any team who say that they have that combination, then it is wonderful. Good luck to them."

The 58-year-old Aussie said the failures in the West Indies and Malaysia did not prove what the team management had tried out was wrong, nor would it affect the team’s performance in the future.

"What happened in the past two months will have no bearing what is going to happen tomorrow," he said.(PTI)

Anand wants to be world champion again
in next year’s edition

CHENNAI, Oct 8: Ambition still drives GM ‘Vishy’ Anand to achieve greater heights in the ‘world of 64 squares’ chess for which he has been having a great passion since he began playing from the age of six: He is aiming to become the world champion again.

Interacting with the media and the participants in a programme "Anand vs Everybody", in his role of global ambassador for differently abled people being cared for by an NGO `Vidya Sagar’ here, Anand, who had first won the World Championship title in 2000 against Shirov in Teheran, said "I very much want to be the World Champion again."

Anand’s response came promptly to a question "do you still have the hunger for the world title?"

"Yes, very much", the Chennai Grand Master shot back when the query was shot at him.

Anand said among his fortcoming assignments after the five day break back home here, the event he was looking forward to most was the world championship event in October next year in Mexico.

"This would be the most important event for me. I’ll train hard for mexico", Anand, who was initiated into chess by his mother as a six year-old boy, explained.

There are a number of important events like the Corus Championship and the Linares event. But the Mexico event is the most important for me", he added. Asked if he thought enough talent was emerging from India and the world’s youngest grand master Parimarajan Negi, another prodigy emerging from India, Anand said he had watched Negi playing in a tournament almost two years ago.

"Over the last year he made a lot of progress. He appeared to be vulnerable in 2005. Now he is winning", Anand observed.

Anand said although he stays in Spain, he kept track of the developments in chess world in India.

"I try to keep myself informed. Our level is going up and there is lot of depth now. Negi is spearheading this. There are a lot of them coming up like Sreenath, Shanmugham and Tanya Sachdeva", he said. (UNI)