New Delhi: Effusive in his praise for the Indian batsmen, former Australia captain Ian Chappell has said that the side is currently producing "by far the best" crop of young talented cricketers.
"India is producing by far the best young batsmen currently, and in addition to (Shikhar) Dhawan, (Virat) Kohli, (Cheteshwar) Pujara and Rohit Sharma, Unmukt Chand is one for the future," Chappell told PTI in an interview.
The Australian great said he was impressed with the attacking flare of the Indian opener Dhawan, who, he felt could be a valuable addition to any side.
"I really like the look of Shikhar Dhawan. He's a talented, aggressive opener and if successful they're extremely valuable to a team," the 70-year-old said.
With the ICC Cricket World Cup just 13 months away, Chappell said teams have already set their sight at the marquee event, to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2015.
"Teams are always playing their ODI matches with an eye on the next World Cup. Given they will be playing at home, Australia is looking like a strong contender at the moment," Chappell, who played 75 Tests and 15 ODIs for Australia in his 16-year-long illustrious career, said.
Chappell, known to speak his mind on cricket administration and game controllers, said the ICC's move to test the Officiating Review System (ORS) to ameliorate the controversial DRS will not bear fruits as the technology needs a massive overhaul.
"I'm like a lot of the players - I don't trust many aspects of either system. I'd change many aspects of the system but my first change would be to take it out of the players' hands," he said.
"I'm not a big fan of the system at all."
