“Dravid was really invested in India becoming the best, but not everyone felt the same”: Greg Chappell

Former Australia captain Greg Chappell, infamous within Indian cricket for a controversial tenure as head coach back in 2005-07, said the then captain Rahul Dravid was highly “invested” in trying to push the team to greater heights and make it the best in the world.

However, Chappell has accused, not everyone within the team was on the same page with their skipper and were more comfortable retaining their places within the side. Greg Chappell hinted not everyone outside Dravid had that drive to work harder and make sure the side takes that next step in their development.

Greg Chappell’s two-year-long sojourn as India’s head coach wasn’t short of drama and sadness, as news of fall-out in the camp rocked Indian cricket hard. The saga involving the coach and Sourav Ganguly is hardly forgotten, with the coach claim to have triggered the then captain’s ouster from the team.

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Greg Chappell was India’s head coach for a controversial two-year period.

“Dravid was really invested in India becoming the best, but not everyone felt the same”: Greg Chappell

Besides the Ganguly issue, there have been accusations on Chappell of mistreatment by the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Harbhajan Singh. In his autobiography, Tendulkar revealed how Chappell had shockingly approached him to become the team captain a month ahead of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. Harbhajan has time and again termed Greg Chappell a “headmaster” for the way he ran the team.

Now, presenting his side of the story on the Cricket Life Stories Podcast, Greg Chappell hailed Dravid as skipper and player, talking of his desire and passion to take the team forward. But he also revealed there was “resistance” from other players on how the coach-captain duo wanted to operate.

“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 said.

Greg Chappell, whose tumultuous tenure ended with India’s disastrous first-round exit at the 2007 World Cup, explained how Ganguly’s axing as captain and player sent a message across to other players as the team management wanted them to come out of their comfort zones. But, Chappell added, the resistance that followed within the side and amidst the wider Indian fanbase, led to Ganguly’s return ahead of the 2006-07 tour of South Africa.

“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,” Greg Chappell said. “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,” he added.