'When he removed Dada as captain...': Sehwag discloses Greg Chappell's unusual practice after Sourav Ganguly sacking
Virender Sehwag, who was part of the team, when the Sourav Ganguly vs Greg Chappell feud was at its peak, revealed an unusual practice that was started by the former Australia captain.
The Sourav Ganguly vs Greg Chappell feud is one of the most infamous chapters of Indian cricket. Back in 2005, when Chappell took over as head coach of the Indian team after outgoing coach John Wright's tenure came to an end, all hell broke loose. Unimpressed with Ganguly – who had vouched for Chappell – and his work ethics – the former Australia captain showed Ganguly the door, first sacking him as the skipper during the tour of Zimbabwe and then subsequently dropping him from the team.
What followed was one of the biggest controversies in Indian cricket with Chappell's e-mail to the BCCI getting leaked and the coach flipping the media off with ab obscene gesture. Indian cricket was in complete pandemonium with the players suffering the brunt of it. Virender Sehwag, who was part of the team, recalled how Chappell would conduct long meetings after sacking Ganguly as captain, with the former India captain himself joining in on a jovial discussion during the show '15 years of Incredible T20 League' on Star Sports. Below is how the discussion panned out.
Sehwag: When Greg Chappell became coach, we started having really long meetings. We used to sit for longer durations. When he removed Dada as captain and got another skipper, he began conducting long meetings.
Ganguly: I wouldn't know that because I wasn't part of these meetings
Sehwag: In Zimbabwe, Dada, Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid played a lot of pool
Ganguly: There he conducted meeting worth three years
Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh, who also were guests, couldn't help but burst out in laughter recalling the series of events. Although Ganguly staged a terrific comeback to return to the India team in late 2006, Chappell had metaphorically already taken India behind by at least 5 years. Under him, India suffered one of the most heart-breaking defeats of all time when they crashed out in the first-round itself of the 2007 50-over World Cup in West Indies. Over the years, several players from that era such as Harbhajan, VVS Laxman and even Sachin Tendulkar disclosed staggering details of some of the treatment Chappell used to dish out to players.
Chappell once shouted at Laxman for walking off the field after hurting his finger, while Harbhajan and Sehwag referred to him as 'headmaster'. Tendulkar's revelations were the most startling as in his autobiography 'Playing it My Way', Sachin had written as to how Chappell had approached him to become India's captain just two months left into the World Cup. Chappell's tenure ended after India's disastrous exit from the World Cup, and with MS Dhoni ushering the team into a new era, Indian cricket recovered to win the T20 World Cup just a few months later and went on to lift the 50-over World Cup in 2011.
