Greg Chappell

Port of Spain: If captain Rahul Dravid appeared calm, Greg Chappell seemed aggressive. Bombarded with questions, the Team India coach often lost his cool in a volatile post-match media conference on Friday.

The following are excerpts

Q Who should take responsibility for this defeat?

A I think it’s a collective responsibility. We didn’t play well enough and it is a disappointment that everyone has to share.

Would you like to continue as coach?

This is not the time to talk about that.

Your Vision 2007 has failed. Is it a personal failure for you?

As I said before, I think it’s a collective responsibility.

Was the team under pressure?

I think the Indian team plays under more pressure than most teams because of the weight of expectations back home. I think it does have an effect.

Why did the team crumble? Are they unable to handle pressure?

There are a number of factors, but I’m not going to try and put labels on it. Again, it’s a very emotional time for a lot of people and any comment that is made can be misconstrued and made to sound worse than it actually is.

Of the last 17 matches overseas, India have played 50 overs only on four occasions. Why is that?

We haven’t played well enough.

But it’s a period stretching over one-and-a-half years…

We haven’t played well enough, that’s it.

Can you pinpoint the reasons why they haven’t batted well enough?

I don’t think this is the right forum to make a comment.

Aren’t you shirking responsibility?

(Visibly annoyed) No I don’t think so. I am not employed by you people, I am employed by the BCCI. Obviously, I will have to face up to them and give them a report…

Another word that has been mentioned is ‘process’. What went wrong with the ‘process’?

That’s an inflammatory question and I’m not prepared to answer it.

You said you are answerable to the BCCI. But aren’t you also answerable to one billion fans in India? Shouldn’t you say something to them?

We didn’t play well enough.

That’s all?

I don’t know what else you want me to say. You want me to criticise somebody or a group of people? I am not prepared to do that. We didn’t play well enough!

Why didn’t we play well enough?

Well I don’t think India have won a tournament overseas since 1985. There is a bit of history to it. There are obviously some reasons. I am not prepared to go into them at this stage.

How critical was (Sachin) Tendulkar’s failure?

I don’t think we can blame one individual, or a group of individuals… Everyone goes out there and tries to play well. I don’t know if we can pick on any one person… As a group, we didn’t play well enough.

Did we pick the right team?

That’s not for me to say. I was given a team and I was happy to work with the team.

How much responsibility will you take?

Obviously I have to take some responsibility and I am quite happy to do that… I’m the coach. But I don’t think the coaching staff alone must be blamed for what has happened here.

Isn’t there a need for serious introspection?

I agree there is a need for serious introspection, but I don’t think it should start today.

Do you think it’s time for a change of guard?

That’s an inflammatory question, and you know I can’t answer that in this forum.

Are you taking anything from this World Cup?

A lot of disappointment…

Given a chance, would you like to stay with the Indian team?

I am not prepared to answer that question today. It’s not my decision.

But what if you are given a chance?

I haven’t been given a chance. Given an opportunity, I will give an answer then.

Was there anything wrong with the planning?

I think the planning was fine, the preparation was good, but the execution on the day wasn’t good enough. It happens… It’s happened probably more often than it should have.

We didn’t see the right body language after the Bangladesh match. Do you agree? Or do you think it would also be an inflammatory answer?

It would be an inflammatory answer. You are trying to put words into my mouth…

Just say if you agree the fire was missing?

The team was under pressure, I absolutely agree with that. I think that pressure did have a bearing with what happened out there today.

How many points would you give yourself on a scale of 10?

Again, that’s a very difficult question to answer. I’m happy that I’ve done the best job that I could do. I don’t think I am the right man to make that assessment…