BANGALORE (India), June 16: New India coach Greg Chappell has urged his players to focus on their basic skills and work harder towards the team’s cause. “To be successful you have to be focused on doing the basic things extraordinarily well,” the former Australia captain told a news conference on Thursday after formally taking over the job.

“Talent will get you so far, but from then on it is about working hard, working smart, being focused and working on things that you can control,” he said.

The 56-year-old Chappell, who succeeds New Zealander John Wright, will take charge of the team through to the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.

He will start work with a number of training camps before a one-day tri series in Sri Lanka starting in July.

“One bad session can make the difference between winning and losing,” Chappell said. “It is a very tactical game.

“If we need to be successful, we need to focus on the things that are important. We need to define for the team what the important issues we concentrate on and work on.

“That will change from day to day, series to series, country to country.”

Chappell’s immediate task is to revive the one-day side, which has slumped to seventh in the rankings since reaching the 2003 World Cup final. India are third in the Test rankings, behind Australia and England.

Chappell is expecting his first national coaching role to be closely scrutinised.

“The love of cricket in this country is very strong, the emotions are always quite high,” he said. “The well-being of the country seems to be riding on that of the cricket team.”

Improving player fitness, match preparation and managing frequent injuries caused by a busy international schedule will receive his immediate attention.

“What we need to find is probably 15-20 guys who are well focused on being part of a successful team,” Chappell said. “One thing I have learnt... some players are capable of it and some aren’t.

“We need to find the ones who are capable of it and give them the best support we can.”

Chappell was guarded on the uncertainty surrounding Saurav Ganguly’s captaincy due to his poor batting form.

“If Saurav is the best man for the job, he should have it. If not, someone else should have it,” he said.—Reuters