Greg Chappell, recalling his time as India coach, said that it was because of Sourav Ganguly that he got the post and that he left because the resistance within the team got too much after Ganguly returned to the team.
Speaking on the Cricket Life Stories podcast, Chappell said: “Ganguly was the one who approached me about coaching India. I had other approaches but I decided that since John Buchanan was coaching Australia… I would love to coach the most populous, fanatical cricket country in the world, and that opportunity came about because Sourav, who was the captain, made sure that I did.â€
“The two years in India were challenging on every front. The expectations were ridiculous. Some of the issues were around Sourav being captain. He didn’t particularly want to work hard. He didn’t want to improve his cricket. He just wanted to be in the team as captain, so that he could control things,†Chappell said.
Chappell then spoke about how he went about his job as India coach, saying that he wanted to change some cultures and ways of thinking within the team. He said the Indian team had a successful run under Rahul Dravid for about a year before things began to fall apart.
READ | Dravid knew what was happening but couldn’t control Chappell: Sourav Ganguly
He said, “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. 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.â€
“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 said.
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