Former Australian cricketer, Greg Chappell reckons that Rahul Dravid “picked” Australian brains to create a solid domestic structure in India and because of that the country’s national team is getting rich dividends. Chappell also said that both India and England have overtaken Australia as the best side in recognising young talent and providing them a platform to succeed.

As per the quotes in cricket.com.au., Greg Chappell said, “India has got their act together and that’s largely because Rahul Dravid has picked our brains, seen what we’re doing, and replicated it in India and with their much larger (population) base. I think we’ve already lost our position as the best at identifying talent and bringing it through. I think England are doing it better than us now and India are doing it better than us.”

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Earlier this year, Australia faced a thrashing defeat at home in the Border Gavaskar Trophy against a second-string Indian team that was plagued by injuries to its key players and was also missing the services of its talismanic skipper Virat Kohli, who was on a paternity leave.

Chappell feels the victory showcased India’s highly effective player development system as even their rookies were confident enough to deliver results without much of an extensive international experience.

Greg Chappell elaborated, “When you look at the Indian team that played in the Brisbane Test that had three or four fresh players, and everyone said, ‘This is India’s second XI’ – those guys had played (extensively) for India A. And in all sorts of different conditions, not just in India.”

Chappell, who served as Cricket Australia’s national talent manager in 2019, reckons that the Australian domestic schedule needs to undergo a major structural change. He reckons that young batsmen will benefit from playing more first-class cricket.

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Greg Chappell asserted, “Playing five Shield games and then 50-over cricket and then BBL and then finishing the end of the Shield season just breaks up that opportunity to develop long-form batting, which is a good foundation for the other formats anyway. The back half of the season I would use for Australia A games. I’d have an Australian Under-23 team either touring or having other teams visiting Australia, just to get another level and a higher standard between Shield cricket and Test cricket.”