‘I would bowl underarm again’

Trevor Chappell’s passport to fame is not just the fact that he is the youngest of the Chappell siblings, or that infamous underarm delivery. He has a niche for himself in Australia — as a coach and as an ABC Radio commentator. He spoke to Vijay Tagore. Excerpts:

How is it being a brother of two accomplished cricketers?
It’s wonderful. They were good cricketers, captains and now they are good at whatever they are doing right now.

Any regrets that you did not go on to play as much as Ian or Greg did?
No regrets absolutely. I’m happy with what I’m. I was not as good as my two elders brothers. They were very good players and I was not.

How do you rate the two as cricketers and captains?
I think Greg was a great batsman and Ian better captain. Greg played some great innings, but Ian played some fine knocks under pressure. It is difficult to say who is better overall. I played under Ian for South Australia and under Greg for Australia. For me both were as good.

Is it true that Greg was the most difficult player for Ian to handle?
(Smiles) I did not know about that. But Ian was good enough to handle everyone. He was a good captain.

Do all you brothers meet up?
We do, although not very often. We had a family get-together in Adelaide before last Christmas. Greg had come from India and we spent some good time together.

How have you been doing since your retirement?
I’m excellent. I’m into coaching. I coach in a school. It is a very exciting thing to do. I’ve got talented players under me but I cannot guarantee that they will play for New South Wales or Australia. But coaching them has been a satisfying experience. It’s great to be involved in developmental programmes for young children.

Any plans to coach teams or do you want to stick to developmental programmes?
Not that I don’t want to but I’m happy with what I’m doing. But I’ve not got any offers from any state teams. I’m open to it. I am also open to coaching teams or academies in India where a lot of things are happening.

Your brother Greg has been a coach for some time. How do you rate him?
I think he is a wonderful coach. He has worked and matured as a coach. He is good to have around.

Do you see any Greg Chappell stamp on the present Indian team?
It is difficult to say. It has been some time since he left the India job. But I’m impressed with the two young Sharmas — bowler (Ishant) and batsman (Rohit). Yuvraj is very good and Dhoni is turning into a good batsman. I’m also impressed with that bloke Kumar (Praveen).

Ok, can you say this team is better than the one under Greg?
It is difficult to say but I have not followed Indian cricket that much. But I thought Greg had done a good job for the Indian team.

Why do you think Greg could not click as coach of India?
I don’t know. I’ve not studied the teams much. There could be various factors.

Being a coach yourself, do you think a coach’s job is mostly about man-management and mental make-up of the players?
It depends on who you are coaching. At the international level, it surely is about man-management.

Do you think Greg was not good at that? In India they say Chappellway did not work because he had problems handling seniors, like Sourav Ganguly.
I cannot why he was not a success as Indian coach. I know Greg was good at that too. On Ganguly, I can say he was dropped when he deserved to be dropped. It was a team requirement and some may have thought Greg had a problem. The dropping did a world of good for Ganguly. He came back stronger. I thought there was nothing wrong in dropping Ganguly at that stage.

Ok, now the obvious question. How do you look back at the underarm incident?
Nothing different. It has been 28 years since it happened. No point discussing that now. At that stage we thought it was the right decision and we went ahead with it. Greg was the captain and he said let’s see how good is your underarm and I bowled the way my captain asked me to.

Ian was not happy with it. He criticised you both.
I know Ian was not happy. He did not support that decision. He also had written in his columns.

Your mother was unhappy that the eldest brother did not support his two younger brothers on that issue. Was it true?
Was it true? It could be true. I was not aware of it. No one has told this to me so far.

Given a chance, will you do that again?
Who knows, I might do it again. If the captain wants me do that.

Finally, who do you think will win the finals?
India has a good side but my thinking isAustralia will win, whether it is 2-1 or 2-0.