Former Australian captain Greg Chappell was Friday appointed the new coach of the Indian cricket team for a two year term that will begin next month, it was announced here Friday.

"The decision was unanimous," Ranbir Singh Mahendra, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), told reporters after a meeting of a special six-member committee that chose Chappell ahead of the three others shortlisted for the job.

The 56-year-old South Australian, who played 87 Tests and 74 one-day internationals between 1970 and 1984, will succeed former New Zealand captain John Wright, whose four-and-half-year tenure ended last month.

Chappell termed his appointment "exciting and challenging" at his first press conference.

"It's about maintaining the quality of cricket that India plays," he said.

Chappell beat compatriot Tom Moody, former India batsman Mohinder Amarnath and former West Indies opener Desmond Haynes, who had been shortlisted by Mahendra-headed panel, which comprised former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, board secretary S.K. Nair and former captains Sunil Gavaskar, S. Venkataraghavan and Ravi Shastri.

The BCCI panel conducted the interviews Thursday and met again Friday morning to pick the winner.

The decision will now have to be ratified by the BCCI's working committee, which will meet in the first week of June, said Mahendra at a packed press conference.

"The terms and conditions will be known after we speak to Chappell," Mahendra said, adding the Australian was expected to take up his assignment in the first week of June.

Mahendra said the board might also appoint a bowling or fielding coach. "The ball is now in Chappell's court," he said.

The BCCI president, however, declined to disclose the fee that Chappell would get.

"Why do you want to know about the money?" he retorted. "Money will not be a problem. And Greg has not said anything about money."

Sources in the BCCI said Chappell's fee is likely to be higher than that the three other would have asked for. This is despite Chappell having reduced it considerably from what he quoted in 2000, when he was interviewed along with compatriot Rodney Marsh and Wright.

Mahendra said that physiotherapist John Gloster and trainer Gregory Allan King would continue as part of the national team's support staff.

The most important event of Greg's two-year term would be the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies in February-March.

Mahendra said the BCCI or the special selection did not take into confidence the members of the national team.

"The committee did not feel it proper to consult the players," he said.

Chappell said he was keen to maintain and improve India's stature as a team.

"I definitely want to improve the country's rankings (currently third in the International Cricket Council Test Championship table) but this won't happen overnight," he said at his press conference.

India is seventh in the ICC One-Day Championship table.

Chappell, who is known for his elegant batting, said he would devote 24 hours of the day and seven days of the week to the betterment of the team.

The cricketer-turned-commentator also maintained that he would not compromise on issues like indiscipline and insist on commitment and preparation.

A middle-order batsman and right arm medium pacer, Chappell has slightly less coaching experience compared to Amarnath and Moody but runs a successful website that sells cricket equipment.

He, however, has the pedigree as his grandfather, Vic Richardson, had also played Test cricket for Australia.

Chappell scored 7,110 runs at an average of 53.86, with a top score of 247 not out in a 14-year international career that lasted till 1984. He also captured 47 wickets with his medium pacers.

In one-day internationals, Chappell scored 2,331 runs at 40.18, with an unbeaten 138 as his highest innings. He also bagged 72 wickets at 29.12.

He had never toured India for a Test or ODI. He just played three Tests and five ODIs against India, all of them at home.

--Indo-Asian News Service