Chasing Ozzies in Hyderabad

1135: Covered all major players in y'day's media interaction. Shane Watson's candour and Michael Clarke's clarity of thought impressed most. Clarke showed me all but one of his tattoos. Hayden surprisingly came across soft-spoken. Brett Lee confirmed he is working on an album. 'Right now, I'm busy writing the songs mate.'
1235: Reached Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Uppal. The exterior is not impressive but interior is. Ponting bowls in the net with Greg Chappell as the umpire. Ponting is garrulous, Chappell stoic, a manufcaturing defect in the god's workshop I guess.

1315: You just love the Aussies for their tidy planning of everything. Wish BCCI learnt a few things from CA. Nielsen addresses press conference. I think, no, I'm sure he's cock-eyed. Can't really follow whom he is eyeing.

1415: Saw a stunning young lady journalist, some i TV mike in hand. Straight out of Telugu movie. On the wrong side of a press conference I guess. My hotel is in the Lakdi-ka-pul area. I thought it was Ladki-ka-pool. Friends scolded me for what they perceived as daydreaming.

1430: Collectively buttonholed Badrinath for his reaction. Got a gem of a line. "I think...I don't think we can take this match easily." Make up your mind, dude.

1440: Fortunately Pragyan Ojha remembers we met in Vadodara. Was keen to know who got into the Test squad. You could sense everyone had that in their mind. Viraat Kohli was clowning around, trying to convince about something spooky in the team hotel. Pragyan seemed disappointed to learn that Amit Mishra got the nod.

1445: Yuvraj's eyeballs almost popped out of socket. Irfan Pathan and Parthiv Patel could not help screaming "Kya? Amit Mishra?". They reacted as if they were in the race for the spinner's slot.

Chappell lands part-time job at Australian academy

As board officials across the cricketing globe indulge in frantic coach shopping, does anyone remember that troubled soul called Greg Chappell? Well, the Australian, after his rollercoaster Team India stint, has been roped as one of the consultant coaches at Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane.

Apart from Chappell, John Wright and Australia’s original beanpole pacer Bruce Reid have agreed to work part-time in the academy.

Interestingly, like Wright and Chappell, Reid too worked with Team India as its bowling coach when the side toured Australia in 2003.

Cricket Australia actually wanted Wright to head the academy -- a post vacated after Tim Nielsen replaced John Buchanan in the Australian think-tank – but the affable Kiwi was not ready to relocate. Describing himself as “between jobs”, Wright said he wanted to spend more time with his kids even though he did not rule out a role with New Zealand Cricket.

Image: BBC