'I Don't Own All The Wisdom'

New cricket coach Greg Chappell insists there are manypeople who know more than him in certain areas of the game and he would nothesitate to take their services for developing India into a champion team.

The former Australian captain, who formally took chargeon Thursday for a two-year term, said he has plans of expanding his supportstaff with experts from various fields.

"I don't claim to own all the wisdom aboutcricket. There are people who know more than me in certain areas. I will bewanting to tap into those people from time to time both in India and outsideIndia," Chappell said in an exclusive interview.

"I have got a couple of people in mind who haveskills that are different from mine and I believe that they can play a veryimportant role in developing a unit that will become a champion team," hesaid.

Chappell, however, did not divulge names and theexpertise of the people he had in mind.

"I don't wish to discuss in detail about who theindividuals are and what their particular skills are. But from time to time wewill need a range of skills across the board, from cricket skills to mentalskills to nutrition.

"Support staff needs to be such that players don'thave to worry about anything but focus on what they need to do to be ready toplay cricket," the 56-year-old Chappell said.

Chappell said he was comfortable with the idea of a two-year contract, which wasenough to put the team in the right direction. "Two years on one hand is along time, on the other hand it is a short time. Within that period we will havea pretty good idea whether we are heading in the right direction or not.

"I am quite comfortable with the two-year period.So I am not concerned about that. If we put things in place ... It should be inplace in two years time and we will see that the team is moving forward andhopefully there might be a chance to discuss further time," he said.

On how he planned to deal with out-of-form players likeSaurav Ganguly, Chappell said "I am not prepared to talk about individualplayers... Anyone who plays at this level for any length of time is going to gothrough fluctuation cycles. It's all about focus and being able to focus.

"... It should be really a matter of sitting downwith them, working and talking with them about their thought processes. That'san important part. When you are playing well, generally thinking well, you arerelaxed. There are not too many distractions. You are able to focus on what youare doing at that time. When you are out of form generally you are out offocus," Chappell explained.

"I will be talking to players about what were theprocesses, what are the processes they go through when they are successful. Whatare the processes you are going through now. Generally there is quite a bigdifference. It is a matter of getting them back on track," he added.

Chappell said he was keen to have a good relationship with the selectors anddiscuss with them on how the system would work. "It's important that I havea good relationship with the players, with the selectors. How that pans out Idon't know. I don't have a fixed view.

"I want to sit down with the selectors and talk tothem on how the system will work. What their philosophies are, talk about myphilosophy and make sure that we can work together and get the best elevenplayers on the field for every game."

On whether he was keen to have a vote in selectionmatters, Chappell said "I am not saying I want to be a selector. What I amsaying is I want to have a good relationship with the selectors... I am aware ofwhat's happening. But equally I need to have a rapport with the players and so,being a selector is not necessarily the best solution. But that will pan out intime."

Chappell said it was imperative that the coach, supportstaff, selectors and administrators were on the "same page" when itcame to getting the best team on the field.

"If we are all trying to achieve the same thing,which I hope is for India to be the champion cricket team of the world then we,each group, has to do what it has to do very well. We have to be coordinated andmoving smoothly towards that goal."

PTI