'The next Sachin Tendulkar has to come from the streets'

After tearfully resigning as captain of the Australian team, following a series defeat to the mighty West Indies, Kimberly John Hughes scored just two runs in four Test innings and was dropped from the side. He never played Test cricket again, after he led two unofficial Australian rebel tours to South Africa and was banned by the Australian Cricket Board.

Hughes playes his best knocks against India, with or without the burden of captaincy. He holds the record of scoring the most runs by an Australian against India in India -- 594 in six Tests.

In India for the world's largest auction of Bradman memorabilia, Kim Hughes spoke with Cricket Correspondent Faisal Shariff about his experiences in India, and explained why he accepted those invitations to play in apartheid South Africa.

Tell us about your Indian experiences.

There were a lot of positives from the tour of India. I scored the maximum runs for Australia in a series in India ever. Sure, we lost the series two-nil, but then we were a very young team. It was a three-month tour -- that's 12 weeks away from home for a young side. The average age of the side was about 23 years. We hadn't played much; there was no medical support like the guys have now to assist them through such a long, arduous tour.

The Indian side comprised some seasoned players like Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Syed Kirmani, Gundappa Vishwanath and Chetan Chauhan. It was very tough out here, but I still think we played very well. It wasn't a complete disaster; we didn't lose six-nil. Allan Border was playing his first away series, so was Rodney Hogg, Dave Whatmore and Kevin Wright. But I had decided that whatever the odds, I was going to enjoy my cricket and enjoy leading the side.

At that time there were no practice facilities as well. Back home in Australia, if you are at the ground and a game is on you can go to another small enclosure and knock a few balls and feel good. That wasn't the case here.

India has not won overseas in the last 15 years. Such a performance from a country with a great cricketing culture is unbelievable. The talent is all there, but the mental toughness is conspicuously missing.

The three-month tour got some of the blokes sick and tired. And the heat was crazy. I mean, I'm mortally scared of the Chennai heat; it almost killed us. Then, there were the boisterous crowds with firecrackers. It was maddening.

In 1984, when I led the team for the four one-day internationals our performance was pretty good. We won all the four games comfortably. The challenge of playing spin in India was always daunting. I admire the cricketing knowledge of the people here. Their interest in the game, the appreciation is amazing!

What is the key to playing the spinners in India?

If one has to succeed here, he must learn to sweep the ball well. In Australia, since the pace is true, one can hit through mid-wicket. Here in India, when playing the leggies or the left arm orthodox bowlers, the batsmen should sweep or get it on the full. One must avoid the strokes through mid-wicket.

Playing with soft hands is another must. Allow the ball to come on to the bat instead of reaching for it. Patience is another important aspect of succeeding in India.

The first 10, 15 minutes are very nerve-wracking out there in the middle, especially if you have a spinner like [Anil] Kumble bowling at you, and with the entire close-in fielders at you all the time. Always try to be on the front foot or completely on the back foot -- no prodding or no half-cock shots. Take time to see the spin of the ball. Playing of the back foot is the best bet on these wickets. The cut shots and the sweep shots are very important. The ball over here comes on slower, holds up sometimes, and the leading edge could prove to be the downfall of quite a few batsmen.

You have a very successful record in India...

I have always been a good player of spin. My philosophy was to always attack the spinners. After all, I'm out there in the middle to score runs not survive. I think footwork is the main thing. After playing at the WACA for so many years it doesn't help your cause to play on Indian wickets. The reason being that the WACA, or for that matter all Australian wickets have true bounce. Here in India the bounce is not true and the wickets are not very bouncy.

Don't make the game reserved only for the privileged few. Reach the grassroots; unearth the real talent in India. Talent identification is missing in the country. How many have missed the chance to make it to the national team?

When I played, Kapil Dev was the only bowler who worried me. Prasanna had faded away; so had [Bishen Singh] Bedi and B [S] Chandrashekhar. [Srinivas] Venkatraghavan was the lone survivor of the famous spin quartet and he wasn't a big turner of the ball; he wasn't a Prasanna. Shivlal Yadav was steady, so were Dilip Doshi and Karsan Ghavri. So, in a way, I had it easy batting in India.

What is wrong with Indian cricket?

India has not won overseas in the last 15 years. Let's not take into account the Test wins against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Such a performance from a country with a great cricketing culture is unbelievable. The talent is all there, but the mental toughness is conspicuously missing. That is what John Wright and Geoff Marsh will try and inculcate in this team.

The Aussies score over everybody else because they are mentally tougher than anybody. Even when the chips are down they hang in there, run well, field well. They do their basics very well and at times when they are facing the wall they don't fall apart, they don't give up. They stick together as a team and fight it out.

I saw the Indians in Australia last year and I found them to be very fragile. They could be easily pressurised and defeated. They need to work a lot on that. They need to believe in themselves when things aren't going right. That brings out the true character of a team. If they don't change this mind set they will always underachieve.

Also, I think too much adulation is paid for one-day performances. The one-day specialists come in and slog on flat-tracks, with no bounce and claim to be great players. They need to take a reality check.

Dilip Vengsarkar was one guy from India who I really admired and consider one of the greatest players out of India. He performed well in India as well as overseas. He performed creditably in Australia as well. He would come in at number three or four and face [Dennis] Lillee and [Jeff] Thompson with ease. He had a great technique and was gutsy.

This team needs Vengsarkars. Cricket is not about playing shots; it is about fighting it out in the middle, it is about playing well anywhere.

What's the solution?

A boy from the city hovel has no chance in your country. A development programme is very important. The next Sachin Tendulkar for India has to come from the streets. Don't make the game reserved only for the privileged few. Reach the grassroots; unearth the real talent in India. Cricket is an expensive game. Talent identification is missing in the country. How many have missed the chance to make it to the national team? If there is a development programme for the children it will help the game enormously in these parts.

Imagine the kid out of the slums. For him, he knows the only way out is through sports. That, to me, is the beauty of sports; the chance that it offers to children. They will die for the country if you give them that chance.

Pay for their travel, buy them some clothing, buy them good kits and coach them well. These kids are hungry to play. Take for example Javed Miandad. That guy was so tough. He came from the streets of Karachi, was an underprivileged child, fought his way out of it and was up there with the Vivian Richards and the Greg Chappels of the world. Children from privileged families are mentally soft. Imagine the kid out of the slums. For him, he knows the only way out is through sports. That, to me, is the beauty of sports; the chance that it offers to children. They will die for the country if you give them that chance.

How much did defeat affect your captaincy and batting?

The last 18 innings of my life were against the West Indies. My average, which was 42 at that time, fell to some 37-odd. I would have loved to play against the Indian attack, the Zimbabweans, the West Indians and even the Kiwis. It was a tough time for me as captain. I was captaining them against India, Pakistan and England and winning.

The moment we would play the West Indies we would just lose so badly. It was frustrating. The West Indies were just brilliant. I wish that West Indian team played this Australian team. The West Indies demise is one of the saddest developments in world cricket. They have been losing games within three days.

You are probably the only captain in history who bowed out of the game with tears in your eyes.

Yes, it was a tough time for me. I wasn't enjoying my cricket. We were losing all the time. The aftermath of the World Series Cricket had taken its toll on me. There was uneasiness all around. The media wasn't helping either. I just couldn't get along with Dennis Lillee and Rodney Marsh at all. We were so uneasy with each other. Now we are best mates and meet regularly, but then the chemistry wasn't good at all.

There was no continuity either. Greg Chappell would be captain at home and then they would make me captain for the away series. The chopping and changing was uneasy. When I sat there in the press conference I just couldn't stop myself. It was an emotional thing to do and I don't regret doing it.

The World Series Cricket has been great for the game, but I just wish that I hadn't played in that era. I was just not ready for captaincy at 23 either. It came too early to me. I would have liked to be captain at 27, maybe 30, but definitely not 23! I was just getting there. I wish I had been a normal cricket kid, who was there to bat and score runs. I would have improved on my average. There was no media manager as well that time; you had to fend for yourself.

Why did you play cricket in South Africa during the apartheid era?

We were supporting cricket there. The idea was to break down apartheid with the sport as the weapon. Cricket was a white sport in South Africa, just like no aborigines play cricket in Australia. Dr Ali Bacher was pumping in money that we were making out of the tours into the black townships. Players like Clive Rice and Jimmy Cook kept the people interested in the sport. And also we were being paid very well. So money was also another criteria.

Did you play with any coloured cricketers during that phase?

World Series Cricket has been great for the game, but I wish I hadn't played in that era. I was not ready for captaincy at 23 either. It came too early to me. I wish I had been a normal cricket kid, who was there to bat and score runs.

Not really. But I did play with one or two black cricketers. Omar Henry was one of them who played with us. I remember a coloured coach, Rodney Mallamba, who was trying to coach the coloured in their townships. The kids would come in and practice with Rodney. The day he left, the black gangs threatened the kids if they played with the whites or practised with the whites. It was a dangerous scenario. We were trying to promote the game and here we were facing such resistance.

The same was the case with the Indian community when I was playing for Natal. There was a sizeable number of Indians there and they always stayed away from us. They were funny about it. They didn't want to join in or play the Natal competition. So, you must see that there are always two sides to every story.

Should there be representation for the coloured players in the national South African team?

I am completely against idea of representation on colour. How would you feel if I said that the Indian team should have two Muslims and two Sikhs in the side? It doesn't augur well for any side, leave alone South Africa. I understand that the coloured haven't received the resources and the opportunities, but the representation needs to start at the grassroots, not with the national team. The national team has to be picked purely on merit.

They need a role model; one guy who comes along and makes the young blacks feel that they want to emulate him. It will take another five years, at least. Someone like a Bjorn Borg, who came from Sweden, which didn't have a history for tennis, and then Wilander, Edberg and many others came along. Picking someone on his colour is what happened to Basil D'Oliviera, who wasn't accepted for his colour.

If you don't pick someone on merit he might look a goose on the international circuit. It is a challenge to cricket, which needs to be quickly done away with.

Photographs: Allsport

Your views