JAIPUR, Sept 27: Former India coach Greg Chappell on Saturday took potshots at Indian cricket board officials for raising a hue and cry over Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) providing its state-of-the-art facilities to the visiting Australian team, saying the game of cricket is all about sharing.

BCCI CAO Ratnakar Shetty had slammed the RCA for obliging too much to the Australians, though, the state association chief Lalit Modi did not see anything wrong in opening the doors of state-of-the-art Future Cricket Academy to the visiting team.

Chappell, who is Chief Technical Adviser at RCA’s Future Cricket Academy but now here as assistant coach to the Australian team, said cricket was all about sharing information and benefiting from the best facilities wherever available in the world and nobody should lose sleep over this.

“I don’t think anyone should think that they solely own the wisdom of the game and try and keep it to themselves. That is very unhealthy for everybody involved and unhealthy for the game.

“The game of cricket is all about sharing information over the years. Australians are head coaches of four or five countries now. During my young days I learnt a lot from my stint in county cricket.

“Kolkata Knight Riders at the moment are training at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane and lots of young Indians have benefited from that academy. We provide any facilities in Australia to anyone including Indians when they tour Australia. We are keen to share ideas and will continue to do that,” he said at a press conference.

Chappell said he was amused by the talks of him sharing the Team India secrets he gained earlier to help Australia during the Test series and the conflict of interest as RCA chief consultant and Australian assistant coach.

“I am amused by some of the discussions going around for the last few days. I am also flattered by the fact that people think that I wield a magic wand and can change things overnight.”

“In Test cricket success is all about doing hard work and doing basics right. I was just trying to make sure the (Australian) team has these. People are being unduly nervous and concerned about things not important. Australia and India have played a lot against each other in recent times. The Indians must be having the footages of Australian players as much as the Australians have for Indians.”

“There are no secrets what so ever between the two teams now. I believe the Indian players must also been amused by the talks going around in the last few days.”

Chappell also dismissed talks of Indians having lost the home advantage after the Australian team got the facilities to acclimatise with Indian conditions by having a camp here ahead of the Test series. “I don’t think just four or five days spending here by the Australians will make Indians losing the home advantage. Cricket is not rocket science, it is pretty basic. There are certain things to do if you want to be successful and there are certain things you avoid doing.

“The series will be decided by which team is able to put the basics together consistently and prepared to work the hardest. Mental aspects are as important as physical aspects. The team that shapes up better mentally will be the favourite team,” he said.—Agencies