<p>Adelaide: As <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/cricket">cricket</a> strives hard to become a truly global sport by including more and more non-traditional cricket-playing countries, <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/australia">Aussie</a> batting legend Greg Chappell lamented the decline of <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/west-indies">West Indies</a> cricket.</p><p>The former India coach, who spoke to the Indian media during his brief visit to the press box here at the Adelaide Oval, was replying to a question if cricket is better off consolidating what it already has.</p><p>"Well, I think one of the tragedies is losing the West Indies," Chappell said. "Having the West Indies drop off the top. I mean, if we had the West Indies at this level, it would be just so much better for cricket. So I think we missed a trick there.</p>.BGT | 'Head'ache turns into migraine .<p>"Pakistan, same thing. (But) The trouble with Sri Lanka is they don't produce fast bowlers. And I mean, it's only in the last 15 or so years that India really made a focus of finding fast bowlers. And now they can compete everywhere. The trouble with Sri Lanka is I just don't think they have a lot of tall people that I saw. At least in India, particularly up north, you've got tall, strong, athletic people that can bowl fast. People kept telling me in India that, well, we haven't got any athletes. I said, have a look at the army. They're all athletes. They're bloody 6 foot, they're bloody strong."</p><p>Chappell has had a bitter-sweet stint as India coach. While he had some heady success, there were some depressing lows, including controversies, as well. </p><p>But he has some nice words to share about Rahul Dravid, who replaced Sourav Ganguly as India's captain under his coaching. The 76-year-old said he wasn't surprised that India won the T20 World Cup with Dravid as coach. </p><p>"He is a wonderful human being and a wonderful cricket person," Chappell began. "He understands the game well. I'm not surprised at all. He is a great cricket person with great knowledge and he is a good human as well and relates well to people. We stay in touch from time to time but it's less so now that years have gone on and I know since I haven't been working in cricket but we were both involved in the under 19s with our own countries so we used to see each other regularly and whenever we've been in that, being in the same city we've always caught up. I caught up with him here a few years ago (here in Adelaide) when he was coaching India. So that's probably the last time face to face. We've had a few WhatsApp messages, but as I've been less involved in cricket, that's probably dwindled somewhat."</p><p>So, does he miss India?</p><p>"Not really," he laughs. "But I miss a lot of India. I have very happy memories of my time in India. Sure, we had some ups and downs."</p>
<p>Adelaide: As <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/cricket">cricket</a> strives hard to become a truly global sport by including more and more non-traditional cricket-playing countries, <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/australia">Aussie</a> batting legend Greg Chappell lamented the decline of <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/west-indies">West Indies</a> cricket.</p><p>The former India coach, who spoke to the Indian media during his brief visit to the press box here at the Adelaide Oval, was replying to a question if cricket is better off consolidating what it already has.</p><p>"Well, I think one of the tragedies is losing the West Indies," Chappell said. "Having the West Indies drop off the top. I mean, if we had the West Indies at this level, it would be just so much better for cricket. So I think we missed a trick there.</p>.BGT | 'Head'ache turns into migraine .<p>"Pakistan, same thing. (But) The trouble with Sri Lanka is they don't produce fast bowlers. And I mean, it's only in the last 15 or so years that India really made a focus of finding fast bowlers. And now they can compete everywhere. The trouble with Sri Lanka is I just don't think they have a lot of tall people that I saw. At least in India, particularly up north, you've got tall, strong, athletic people that can bowl fast. People kept telling me in India that, well, we haven't got any athletes. I said, have a look at the army. They're all athletes. They're bloody 6 foot, they're bloody strong."</p><p>Chappell has had a bitter-sweet stint as India coach. While he had some heady success, there were some depressing lows, including controversies, as well. </p><p>But he has some nice words to share about Rahul Dravid, who replaced Sourav Ganguly as India's captain under his coaching. The 76-year-old said he wasn't surprised that India won the T20 World Cup with Dravid as coach. </p><p>"He is a wonderful human being and a wonderful cricket person," Chappell began. "He understands the game well. I'm not surprised at all. He is a great cricket person with great knowledge and he is a good human as well and relates well to people. We stay in touch from time to time but it's less so now that years have gone on and I know since I haven't been working in cricket but we were both involved in the under 19s with our own countries so we used to see each other regularly and whenever we've been in that, being in the same city we've always caught up. I caught up with him here a few years ago (here in Adelaide) when he was coaching India. So that's probably the last time face to face. We've had a few WhatsApp messages, but as I've been less involved in cricket, that's probably dwindled somewhat."</p><p>So, does he miss India?</p><p>"Not really," he laughs. "But I miss a lot of India. I have very happy memories of my time in India. Sure, we had some ups and downs."</p>