Exclusive: Why Ian Chappell thinks Cricket Australia has done Smith, Warner a favour by banning them

Former Australia captain Ian Chappell, regarded as one of the finest leaders in cricket, has said that Cricket Australia has done Steve Smith and David Warner a favour by banning them for 12 months for their roles in ball-tampering scandal. In this exclusive interview to DNA’s G Krishnan, the 74-year-old Chappell from Sydney, who is in India to launch the sports gamification app SportsHero, talks about ball-tampering, Virat Kohli and his favourite captain and much more. Excerpts:

How do Australians react to its sports icons falling from grace?

I think the feeling was really anti when it first happened. I think that started to change when particularly (Cameron) Bancroft and (Steve) Smith got back home and when the people saw how they were devastated. In fact, their remorse was genuine and I think that changed the feeling in Australia. On the other hand, the worst name you can get in Australia is ‘cheating’. If you are seen as a cheat in Australia, that is bad, very bad. That will take a bit of overcoming. The biggest punishment for these players will not be losing IPL contracts, Australia contracts. It will be having to live their life in the public. They will find it hard when they go out in the public. I am not sure if Cricket Australia wants (David) Warner back. They were probably looking for a reason to get rid of Warner because he was quite outspoken during the (pay) dispute between the players and administrators last year. Knowing the history of Cricket Australia pretty well, they were looking for an opportunity to get rid of Warner. He may not be back. Smith may be back but he may not captain Australia again. But, I think it will be hard for him.

Will this affect Smith’s game after he completes his suspension term?

It is a matter of what it will do to their confidence. Because, confidence is obviously a big part, particularly for Smith. The way he plays, confidence is a big part of that. I am not sure if he will be able to get all that confidence back. Yes, he may get back. I don’t think he will captain Australia again. I think they (CA) have done them a favour. Everyone is jumping up and down about 12 months being too harsh but they have done them a favour because next summer, they won’t be playing in Australia. If you have Smith and Warner playing in Australia next summer and they are walking out to bat and are getting booed by their home crowd. That would be hard. It would also not be very good for Cricket Australia and the image of the game.

Your brother Trevor Chappell recently spoke about the challenges he faced after the underarm controversy (1981 against New Zealand). How difficult was the time for the Chappell household and how did you all cope with it?

It was not a problem for me because I was not involved (laughs). The big difference, and some people don’t understand the difference, whether you agree with underarm or not, it was legal. And this (ball-tampering) is not legal. I didn’t know it was any great problem for Trevor. I see Trevor pretty regularly because he is in Sydney, I don’t see Greg (brother who was captain of that match) often because he is in Brisbane. Obviously, it had an effect but I didn’t see it having a detrimental effect on Trevor. The main thing was New Zealand. They were the ones who still haven’t forgotten it. The rest of the world moved on pretty quickly.

Coach Darren Lehmann has said about taking a leaf out of New Zealand book. The Australian Sports Commission and the Prime Minister became involved. Is it a bit aggravated in the heat of the moment?

The thing about Lehmann is he should have thought about it before the event, not after the event. What bothers me is that you have 30 people there, 15 players and 15 support staff. Thirty people and not one thought to say ‘hang on, this is illegal, and it is bloody stupid because how do you think you can get away with it, and no one came up with that.

Could Bancroft have refused to do that?

Of course he could, and obviously he should have. I am pretty damn certain of six or seven of the guys in my team that if I had suggested something stupid, I’d have been told in no uncertain terms that it was stupid and that we are not doing that. What’s changed in that 40-odd years, I don’t know. But sure Bancroft could have said no. Am sure Bancroft wished that night at the press conference that he had said no.

Last week Michael Clarke feared that Australia may go down the West Indies way. Do you also feel the same way?

No, no. I am not sure that the West Indies can back, sadly, which I think is an indictment on world cricket that they left the West Indies go down the hill. I don’t see Australia go down that way. Australia will have a dip but they will come back again.

What are the lessons the world cricket can learn from the ball-tampering episode?

They can learn about stupidity because there was plenty of that on show in Cape Town with the Australians! The ICC has already talked about trying to strengthen the penalties for ball-tampering and also the wording of ball-tampering. The question I have for the administrators is ‘why are they reactive rather than being proactive?’ That’s part of the problem with cricket administration. It takes a disaster. It is always the players who get penalised. The administrators make a mistake and the players are penalised. Obviously, I am more in favour of players than I am for administrators. There has been a lot of talk about what they are going to do. As usual, with ICC, I would not hang by the neck while I am waiting for them to do something. Because, I might strangle myself.

Australia will be without Smith and Warner when India tour this year end. Will this give India the advantage to win their first-ever Test series Down Under?

This is the best chance India would ever have, winning in Australia. If I was predicting, I will be predicting an Indian victory. I don’t know if they will win comfortably but India will win. It is certainly India’s best opportunity ever. Australia will still be hard to beat because they have a good bowling attack. To get 20 wickets is the hardest part of the game. I think the Australian bowling attack will have to start thinking like Andy Roberts, the West Indies quickie. Round about the World Series Cricket started, he said ‘it doesn’t matter what the bowl us out for, we will bowl them out for less’. Australian bowling attack will have to think along those lines because they won’t have so many runs to bowl with.

You have been a respected captain in your days. Who have been your favourite captains?

Richie Benaud had a big influence on me as a captain. When Richie took over Australian captaincy, I was 16 and I was just starting to captain the school team. It was an important time and he had a big influence on me. Of the Australians in recent times, Mark Taylor was a terrific captain. Michael Clarke was a very good captain on the field. There are two parts to captaincy – there is captaincy on the field and leadership off the field. I think Mark was very good at both. Clarke was very good on the field, am not so sure if he was so good in leadership off it. Clarke tactically was as good as Taylor. Among overseas captains, I liked what (England’s Mike) Gatting did in Australia in 1986-87 (beat Australia to win Ashes 2-1). He was terrific. The other guy I really liked as a captain was Arjuna Ranatunga. I just liked the way he did not take any sh** from anybody. He was a leader. He led the team. It was very much his leadership that won Sri Lanka the World Cup in 1996. Not just in one-day cricket. He was a good captain in Tests as well.

And, among the current captains?

I admire (Virat) Kohli. The only thing I will say is he is a bit emotional. I really feel that as a captain, you have got to leave your emotions out. He gets a bit high at times. He is a smart cricketer. He will do well.

How do you look at the Kohli-Ravi Shastri combination as captain and coach of the Indian team?

Ravi is the right bloke to be with Kohli. And, am not saying this because Ravi is a mate of mine. Kohli is a pretty aggressive thinker on his own. But Ravi was also very very aggressive as a captain. I have talked many hours over red wine with Ravi on the game on cricket and his thoughts are always aggressive, they are always about winning the game. And, Kohli is very much in that mould. I thought, and I have said many times, that Kohli’s second innings in Adelaide (when he got a century in each innings, 2014-15), is the best counter-attacking innings I have ever seen in a fourth innings. That was the result of communication between Ravi (then director of cricket) and Kohli. And Kohli said after the game, ‘the best way for us to draw the game was to try and win it’. He was that close to winning the damn game. And if he did not hole out that full toss, India would have won that Test. Ravi is the perfect guy to combine well with Virat Kohli.

Talking about emotions, your PM Malcolm Turnbull has called for complete end to sledging. Is it possible at all?

Gamesmanship has been around for ever. You go back to WG Grace. There is a place for gamesmanship. The odd heat of the moment is going to happen, you have got two teams playing, you have fast bowlers running 30 metres, beating the bat three times, I understand him getting cranky. But that is acceptable. But the bloody abuse and the inane chatter drives me mad when I am watching on television. Do I think they can stop it? No. As long as ICC is in charge, that is not going to happen. Hopefully, things improve.

What do you make of IPL, in its 11th edition?

You don’t get it in Australia. I follow it mainly on websites. Any game that is played well is worth watching. IPL has done a lot of good things to the game. It is like everything else in the world. Everything is not upside. There is also a downside. IPL has certainly done a lot of good things for the players. They are very well rewarded now. There are far more positives than negatives.