'Four to five of our players couldn't click' - Dravid

The Indian team has great faith in experimentation. That was the indication given by the captain-coach combine of Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell, apart from three members of the Indian squad, who spoke at the team's media briefing in New Delhi before they kick off their Champions Trophy campaign.

Criticised in the media for not having a settled look yet, with just under six months to go for the World Cup, Greg Chappell clarified that experimentation is basically development of the squad and a "constant process."

Giving a positive spin to the experiments, Dravid said that they (experiments) provided results. "What you have always called experimentation I have generally called it as strategy, which is what gives us the best chance to win a game. Whatever strategy will work best to win a game I will use it. That will depend on the players I have, the form they are in, the fitness of all the players and we have to take a lot of things into consideration that other people are not privy to or [have] access to."

After a string of successes last year, where India scored convincing victories over Sri Lanka, England and Pakistan, the team lost track first suffering a 4-1 defeat in the Caribbean last season and then being ousted in the tri-nation DLF Cup in Malaysia after managing to win just one game.

The indifferent form of matchwinners like Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan had deeply affected the winning momentum, and the top order in batting had been shuffled frequently. But seniors like Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar are not losing much sleep. "We had a dip because few of our key players who were really performing well for us in the period we were successful haven't been able to hit perform", said Dravid, who felt these were quality players and there was no cause for concern.

"Unfortunately in the our last six to seven matches four to five of our players couldn't click. That is where Australia are good at: they are able to build a good squad because of the depth they possess. It doesn't really matter if players are out of form as they can always rely on different people," Dravid added. Instead, he felt that over-reliance on certain players was an area they should be looking into.

Tendulkar, who recently came back during the DLF Cup after a four-month layoff, felt that "Not all batsmen are going to be in good form. The ones who are in good form make it up for the other guys and the same holds for the bowlers. That adjustment is necessary." While lending his support for the team's flexible methods, Tendulkar thought the need of the hour was balance. "Experiments should go on to certain extent. I know it is equally important to settle down and figure individual roles, but that doesn't mean we should totally stop experimenting. There should be a nice balance."

Sehwag, who was asked to move down the order to No. 4 in Malaysia, had no qualms adapting to the challenge. Sehwag, who started his career as a middle order bat, confirmed that he is ready to open in the Champions Trophy, but explained "I enjoy batting both as an opener as well in the middle. More important for me is the challenge. If you are batting in the middle order and if two or three wickets fall you need to responsible, make runs and at the same time not lose your wicket. When you open the ball is new and that is another kind of challenge."

Chappell, who has come in for a lot of flak for his lateral thinking, strongly felt that experiments would benefit in the long run. Refusing to be disappointed about the team's recent losses, and instead happy with the way "Rahul is going about developing the squad", Chappell tried explaining why what he and his team are doing was necessary. "The reason that we have done most of these things (experiments) are well thought through, they are not done at the spur of the moment. Since people outside are not privy to most of our discussions, therefore they are not able to understand what we are trying to do. There are positives that come out it, like things that individuals learn about themselves, things that the individuals learn about the different roles that are required within a team."

Yet questions remained. A case in point is Irfan Pathan, who is going through an extended bad run with the ball. Dravid adamantly refused to believe that and said that his opinion about Pathan remains the same as it was back when Pathan was performing well with the ball and batting up the order. "I have always maintained that Irfan Pathan is primarily a bowler to me first who contributes with the bat. Irfan himself has told us that batting up the order has no relevance to his bowling."

Dravid felt it was for the player now to hit back as "There is a certain amount you can do as a captain or a coach. At the end of the day there is certain thing called individual responsibility and individual performance - you control your own destiny, which is something you should never forget. We've a lot of faith in Irfan and we know how important he is for the team. We were able to play five bowlers consistently last season because of the success of Irfan and Dhoni, and I mention them as key players."

Tendulkar felt it was important to have the winning momentum. "It has to be with you (momentum) - that is what happened to us in the 2003 World Cup where towards the start of the tournament we struggled a bit and towards the end we were a different lot altogether. That was because we started gradually but surely, so that was a big turning point for us."

Yuvraj Singh echoed Tendulkar's thoughts, saying consistency was what India need now. "You can't keep winning for six months and fall away in the next six months."