October 03, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 20, 1428

MUMBAI, Oct 2: Former national coach Greg Chappell has called on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to shield players from an invasive domestic media.

“The BCCI needs to be conscious of it because there is a limit to the number of players that are going to survive in that environment,” the Australian told the NDTV news channel.

“They need to be looked after and I think the more support that can be given to everybody that is involved in the playing side of Indian cricket, the better it will be for the longevity and the future success of Indian cricket,” he added.

Chappell, 59, is back in India as adviser to a state cricket academy. The former Australia captain’s 22-month tenure as coach of cricket-crazy India was mired in media-fuelled controversy, and ended immediately after the team’s first-round exit in the 50-over World Cup in the Caribbean in March.

“It’s (media attention) very different from anywhere else in the world. In both extremes of the word. That was part of Indian cricket and part of the experience,” the former Test batsman said.

A special committee comprising former captains has been formed to consider the 20 applications that have been received. The team is expected to have a full-time coach in place for the tour of Australia in December.

Chappell’s experimentation policy and his faith in youngsters was always resisted by the team, but has borne results with a young Indian team winning the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa last month.

The likes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the current one-day skipper, blossomed under Chappell.

“If we left Indian cricket with some hope for the future, with young players, that’s fantastic because that’s what we set out to do,” Chappell said.—Reuters