“We found him better than others. He will remain in charge till June 2007 which means he will be the coach at the next World Cup.”
A high-powered selection panel, which included former captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Srinivas Venkataraghavan chose Chappell, 56, over another Australian Tom Moody, India’s Mohinder Amarnath and Desmond Haynes of the West Indies.
“I am honoured because this is the most exciting job in cricket,” the batting great told reporters soon after his appointment.
“I am committed to excellence. Cricket is not a rocket science. It is a simple game and I intend to keep it simple.
“I want to make India the best team in the world. That’s my job and I pledge to work towards that.”
Chappell hails from an illustrious cricket family with grandfather Vic Richardson and brothers Ian and Trevor also playing Test cricket for Australia.
The stylish batsman coached South Australia for five years but the Indian job will be his first at the international level. He also hosts a coaching website. A member of the selection panel said that Chappell was the most impressive of the candidates during the interviews.
“Greg spoke his mind, but he knew what he was talking. He bowled me over,” the member said.
According to media reports, Chappell did not talk money.
“I will be comfortable with whatever you give me. I am sure you know my worth,” Chappell is reported to have told the panel.
Asked how much time he could devote to Indian cricket, the Adelaide-based Chappell said: “24 x 7 x 365 days till the 2007 World Cup.”
Chappell declined to reveal the terms of his contract to reporters, saying it was a “matter between him and the BCCI and not for publication.”
Chappell takes over from New Zealander John Wright, who served as India’s first foreign coach for almost five years before stepping down in April to devote time to his family.
Wright was preferred over Chappell in 2000 reportedly because the BCCI felt the Australian was too expensive.
The first assignment for the new coach is a triangular one-day tournament in Sri Lanka in August also featuring the West Indies.
Chappell, who played the last of his 87 Tests in 1984, is widely regarded as one of the batting greats with 7,110 runs at an average of 53.86 with 24 centuries.
He also played 74 one-dayers, scoring 2,331 runs at 40.18.
In 1981, Chappell infamously ordered younger brother Trevor to bowl an under-arm delivery to prevent New Zealand from winning a One-day International, an incident that almost broke diplomatic ties between the trans-Tasman rivals.
India, who won the World Cup in 1983 and were runners-up to Australia at the 2003 edition in South Africa, slipped badly last season when they lost eight of 10 one-dayers against arch-rivals Pakistan.
In Test cricket, the Indians also lost a home Test series to world champions Australia, defeated South Africa and Bangladesh before being forced to a 1-1 draw by Pakistan.—AFP