September 30, 2008	Tuesday	Ramazan 29, 2008

NEW DELHI, Sept 29: India’s newly-appointed chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth said on Monday he has set his sights on building a winning team for the 2011 World Cup.

“We will develop a team towards the World Cup 2011,” the former opening batsman, who played a key role in India’s only World Cup triumph in 1983, told reporters.

“It is a slow process. But every Indian’s dream has been to win the World Cup again after 1983. We have the ability to win the World Cup, but we need to be focused for that.”

Srikkanth, 48, was appointed chairman of India’s first ever paid selection panel on Saturday. Other members of the panel are Narendra Hirwani, Raja Venkat, Yashpal Sharma and Surendra Bhave.

Srikkanth’s first task as chairman will come on Wednesday when the selectors pick the Indian squad for the first two Tests of the four-match series against Australia starting in Bangalore on Oct 9.

Srikkanth, a free-stroking batsman, needs to rebuild the Indian team after it crashed to a 2-1 defeat on the recent tour of Sri Lanka.

Srikkanth, however, refused to join the debate on whether veterans like Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Venkatsai Laxman should call time on their careers.

“Younger players like Subramaniam Badrinath, Rohit Sharma and a few others have the talent, but it is not ability alone that makes a player tick at the highest level,” he said. “Mental strength is critical and cannot be taught, it has to come from within, and the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid and Kumble have shown the way over a good period of time.

“An eye for the future is equally important. Hard decisions might have to be taken in the future. But the current Test team is one of the best India has ever had and it will not be easy replacing them.”

Srikkanth, who captained the Indian team on the tour of Pakistan in 1989 but was later sacked for demanding better payments for his team-mates, stated he favoured different teams for the various formats of the game.

“Different skill sets are needed to excel in each form,” he expressed. “With Twenty20 also coming into the mix, it is crucial to identify talent for each form and nurture them. The team has had some good results in the recent past and it’s important to keep the good work going.”

Srikkanth played 43 Tests, scoring 2,062 runs at an average of 29.88. In 146 One-day Internationals, he made 4,091 runs at 29.01.—AFP