Former Australian cricketer Greg Chappell, who had a two-year coaching stint with the Indian team, has turned a “double agent” and will play a key role for the Aussies during the forthcomingBorder-Gavaskar Trophy in India. He is said to be well versed about Indian cricket.

Chappell, who heads the “Centre of Excellence in Brisbane”, will also be an assistant to Australia coach Tim Nielsen, and will accompany the squad until at least after the first Test in Bangalore beginning October 9.
During his stay with the Ausssie team, he will provide great insight as he is a former India coach and currently is still a key advisor at India''s own “Centre of Excellence” at the Rajasthan Cricket Academy in Jaipur. “Former Australia captain Chappell knows all about playing cricket in India”, reported the Daily Telegraph.

From tomorrow, the 15-man Australian squad will begin a week''s training in Jaipur before heading to Hyderabad for their only official warm-up match leading into the series opener.

During his tenure as Indian coach, Chappell was punched in the head at the airport, his wife Judy was pushed over and he was sued for defamation by the Indian parliament. Some of the lessons from those incidents will be passed on to Nielsen, a man Chappell mentored when he was coach of South Australia and Nielsen was his deputy, added the paper.

"It''s good to be involved this time. Obviously it''s a transition period and always an exciting time. Obviously I''ll have the opportunity to work with some of the young players. Just talking about the conditions in India, generally, will be part of the role. Just what to expect in India, conditions, weather, food, all those different things. We''ll be talking about the whole strategy involving bowling and batting in India. There will be discussions certainly with the coaching staff and probably with the individuals,” the paper quoted Chappell as saying. (ANI)