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Cricket- 'Dravid was really invested in India becoming best team': Greg Chappell

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: May 21, 2021, 01:56 PM IST
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Greg Chappell Photograph:(Getty)

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He recalled the time when he axed Sourav Ganguly as captain and dropped him. He said it sent a message across the team. 

Former Australian skipper Greg Chappell's stint as Team India's head coach was a very controversial one. Chappell was sacked as a coach after Team India had a disappointing 2007 World Cup campaign, where they suffered a first-round exit following defeats to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Chappell recalled his tenure as the coach for the Men in Blue and said that Dravid was really invested in India becoming the best team in the world, whereas others did not have the same feeling and resisted it. 

"Dravid was really invested in India becoming the best team in the world. Sadly, not everyone in the team had the same feeling. They would rather concentrate on being in the team. There was some resistance from some of the senior players, because some of them were coming to the end of their careers," Chappell revealed on Cricket Life Stories Podcast.

He recalled the time when he axed Sourav Ganguly as captain and dropped him. He said it sent a message across the team. 

"When Sourav got dropped from the team, we had a lot of attention from the players, because they realized if he can go, anyone can go. We had a great 12 months, but then the resistance got too much, Ganguly came back into the team. The message from the players was loud and clear – 'We don't want change.' Even though the board offered me a new contract, I decided that I did not need that kind of stress," Chappell added.