Barely a month after taking over as coach of the Indian cricket team, Greg Chappell already sounds protective about his wards, saying frequent negative comments are not helping the side which has done "quite well as a team".
Chappell said it is not possible for any team to win "day in and day out" but what is required is to attain a certain level of consistency.
"I keep hearing 'they [the players] can't do this, they can't do that. They can't win games; they don't have fighting spirit'. But I think they have done quite well as a team," the former Australia captain said.
"History of the game shows that it is hard to do it [win] day in and day out and that is the key to a champion side," he said during NDTV's 'Walk the Talk' programme.
Chappell said a lot of planning went into making Australia a champion side, as results could not be achieved overnight.
"The birth of Australian cricket -- what we see now -- took place in the mid eighties when the West Indies were dominating the game. The West Indies showed us the way, set a bar. The administrators, selectors and everyone involved with cricket in Australia sat down to work out how to go beyond [that bar]. So what we see today is a result of that planning."
The coach said that to be a champion side "takes more than putting just 11 players on the field and hoping that they will play well. There's a lot more to it."
"I don't think many people realise the hard work that goes on behind the scenes and in its execution [and] how hard it is to be on top of your game," said Chappell.
The 56-year-old former batsman also predicted that India would become a force to reckon with on the field in days to come.
"India is the epicenter of cricket financially, in numbers as well. Hopefully, in time, on the field also it will be the epicentre of cricket."
Chappell also said he was quite happy to have got a chance to be involved in some way with India.
"The biggest gap and probably the only one on my cricket CV is that I never got to play cricket here. So it is good from my point of view that I've got an opportunity to involve myself with Indian cricket, which is perhaps one of the most exciting jobs in cricket."
Chappell is currently in Bangalore, where he is conducting a camp for India probables ahead of a busy international season.
