By IANS,
Jaipur : Former India coach Greg Chappell has said that he has no sensitive information about the Indian team and even if he had he wouldn’t pass it on to his present employers, Cricket Australia (CA).
“There’s nothing called secrets in cricket. I don’t feel I have any sensitive information, and professionalism suggests there are certain things that are not available to the Australians. Anyway, there is nothing I know that they don’t know,” Chappell told reporters here Saturday at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium.
Chappell, a former Australian captain, served as the Indian coach 2005-07 and is now plotting its defeat in his new role as the assistant coach of the Australian team. His tenure was marred by controversies.
And now 18 months after his resignation, Chappell is seen as a ‘double agent’ by the locals, passing on the Indian cricket team’s secrets to help Australia defend the Border-Gavaskar Trophy during the four-match Test series starting Oct 9.
“Cricket is a game where knowledge is shared. England set up a cricket academy in Australia and they trained under Rod Marsh ahead of an Ashes series. The Australians have played against India pretty regularly in recent times. I think they have got enough footage and personal experience with the Indian team to understand what they have to do,” he said.
Chappell feels that both the teams will show respect for each other putting behind the acrimonies arising out of the Sydney Test last summer. He also said that the idea of practising in Jaipur was to get acclimatised to the tough conditions.
“The whole idea of coming to India and train in Jaipur was to get acclimatised to conditions, trying to mentally and physically prepare ourselves for the Test matches. I can’t say we have achieved much in four to five days,” he said.
Asked whether India lost the home advantage by providing Australia with all the facilities, Chappell said: “I would not say that India has lost its home advantage just because we’ve come here to acclimatise, India still has that advantage.”
He also said that the Australians are trying to find out ways to combat the Indian spinners.
“We’ve been discussing a lot about India’s spinners, who have been historically very successful on home pitches. A lot will depend on the pitches where Indian spinners have been dominant,” he said.