Chappell’s ‘come back’ to India as coach

Sep 18: Former India coach and Australian batting maestro Greg Chappell will return to the center stage of Indian Cricket in October, after a brief sojourn, but this time as an advisor to the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) Academy.

RCA President Lalit Modi, who is also vice-president of the Board of Control For Cricket in India, said in a statement on Monday, Ian Frazer, who was with the Indian team as bio-mechanist during Chappell’s tenure along with Chappell, signed up by the Rajsthan Cricket Association for the RCA’s Center of Excellence.

"The joining of Greg and Ian will take the Rajasthan Cricket Academy to the forefront of development of cricket not just in Rajasthan, but across India and the entire cricket-playing world," said Modi.

The Australian had a contentious 18-month’s time as India cricket coach and left the job in May after the World Cup debacle. The appointment of Chappell comes as a revelation as he was recently tipped to head the Australian Cricket Academy.

Chappell is currently working with the Australian Centre of Excellence in Brisbane. While he will be working on a six-month tenure, Fraser will be employed on a near-fulltime basis.

According to the release, the academy will have five indoor pitches, a full video analysis system and 24 outdoor practice wickets. It will accommodate 70 students and will have a state-of-the-art gymnasium.

“In the first phase, we will be recruiting 110 students in five batches of 22 from Rajasthan,” said Modi. “The programme we have designed with Greg and Ian is quite different from all current programmes, and we hope that the method we apply will change the way we train our future cricketers,” he added.

Chappell would introduce new techniques and methods because ‘first class and international cricket’ is being the great demand for the players. “Training methods of the past will not be suitable for the player of the future who will need to be fitter, stronger and more resilient, more flexible.” the release concluded.

Chappell was delighted with the new assignment. "To be involved with identifying and training the talent of the future in Rajasthan is a wonderful opportunity," the former Australian skipper was quoted as saying in the statement.

The academy would be operational from October, said Modi.