Continuing his conversation exclusively with Headlines Today onSachin Tendulkars revelations in an autobiography, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly this time spoke to consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai onMonday evening. In his interview, the man who first raised the red flag against Greg Chappell had a few things to say about Tendulkars account and the former Australian cricketer(WATCH FULL INTERVIEW):Q. You are smiling. Is it because you suggest that I told you so. We didnt need Sachin Tendulkar to tell us, you were always saying that Greg Chappell was bad news for Indian cricket?A:Am not smiling because of that Rajdeep. Am smiling because this hasnot surprised me. In 2005, when I lost my captaincy, the issue was same. And in 2007, just before the World Cup, the issue was same. I really feel sad for Dravid, because it is not right when you have a captain and then yougo at his back and ask or talk somebody about captaincy. Am sure he did the same thing when I was the captain, he did that with Rahul. Its a very sad situation for anyone and I really feel sorry for Greg Chappell and Indian cricket, that they had to go down to this level.Q. Why is it that you are the only person who spoke out? Do you think that Sachin should have also spoken out. He has now spoken out after retiring. Do you believe that a lot of senior players failed to speak out much earlier?A.No, I think I addressed these issuesto the selection committee then, the board then. I still remember the meeting at Mumbai, and I told them exactly the same thing. The reason why I was asked to leave, because I was asked to drop several of the senior players including Tendulkar, Laxman, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, and they needed to be dropped when Greg Chappell came in. I refused to do so. I said No, you cannot do that straight away.Q. He wanted all these players dropped? He wanted Sachin Tendulkar dropped?A.Yeah, Sachin has said that in his own book. So, this is nothing new to me. I have heard this before and I have addressed that to the board and the selection committee. Obviously, I lost my place after that tour to Zimbabwe and now Sachin speaks about all these things, which I can seewhere it is coming from.Q. Greg Chappell was someone who was a great batsman, and someone who helped you with your batting, helped Sachin at some stage with technique, and yet, you are saying thathe was a terrible man manager. Was that a problem that he particularly could not manage senior cricketers?A.I dont think that this boils down to man managing people. What I get about these statements is that it is about control. I do not know where hismind was. Did he come to coach India? Did he come to take our cricket forward or do all these unnecessary things. I feel really sad to play cricket for India while all this nonsense was going on at the back.Q. Did Chappell not understand the Indian way of playing cricket? The domestic coach versus foreign coach debate. Was it that he wanted to impose Australian style and wanted complete control as Sachin suggests in his book?A.Honestly Rajdeep, I do not know whether this is an Australian style. Talking to, for example, David Hussey for captaincy against Michael Clarke, or to Ponting against Steve Waugh is not Australian style. That said, we have had great foreign coaches in John Wright and Gary Kirsten, but I ama big fan of domestic coaches.Q. Let me persist with the question. Shouldnt the senior players have spoken up when you lost your place in the national side. Why now, after retirement? Were the senior players frightened of Chappell?A.Sometimes as a player you do not want to get into a controversy. You tend to stay out of it. I can understand where these players are coming from on what they wanted to say and why they wanted to keep quiet, because they saw what happened to me. I lost my captaincy after winning the series 2-0, and also getting a Test match 100. I never captained India after that. I couldnt play one-day cricket in spiteof being the best ODI player in the world at that time. They have seen what has happened. They didnt want to risk it, and it is quite natural to stay out of controversy. I dont blame them.Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly and former Indian coach Greg Chappell. Photo: Reuters.I do not think I was made the Fall Guy because of my teammates. They werenot responsible for my ouster - neither Sachin, Dravid. There were other people involved in not making me the captain of India. Its about Indian cricket, not me or Sachin. During that period, we won nothing.When Chandu Borde arrived, he kept the dressing room in good humour, and we kept winning everything. The game of cricket got affected. Probably, I was the biggest casualty inthe entire incident. Thats the way life goes.Q. Does Greg Chappell owes an apology to Indian cricket? To Sachin Tendulkar, to Sourav Ganguly, to Dravid?A.He can call up Tendulkar, or Dravid.But he dare dial my number. If hes hearing this on TV, he dare calls Sourav Ganguly.Q. You wont pick up the phone?A.The time for sorry is gone. And I have finished playing and moved on. These are mistakes which are unpardonable.Q. Its an unpardonable mistake, what you are saying. What Sachin Tendulkar has done is reveal what you and other cricketers knew for a very long time. Right?A.Obviously, I wasnt aware of this captaincy issue. Where Greg goes and asks Sachin to be the captain. ButI knew that Greg wanted senior players to go. Sachin Slams ChappellSachin Tendulkars autobiography Playing It My Way, that is to be released on Thursday, has slammed former coach of the Indian cricket team Greg Chappell. Making several revelations, the Indian cricketer says in the book:In my opinion, Indian cricket benefited significantly when the BCCOdecided to end Chappells tenure in April 2007. Several of our senior players were relieved to see him go, which was hardly surprising because he had not treated them well. Chappell seemed intent on dropping all the older players and in the process damaged the harmony of the side.ON CHAPPELLS OFFER..Just months before the World Cup, Chappell had come to see me at homeand, to my dismay, suggested that I should take over the captaincy fromRahul Dravid. Anjali (Tendulkars wife), who was sitting with me was equally shocked to hear him say that together, we could control Indian cricket for years, and that he would help me in taking over the reins of the side. I was surprised to hear the coach not showing the slightest amount of respect for the captain, with crickets biggest tournament justmonths away.ON HOW AUSTRALIAN TREATED SENIORSChappell seemed intent on dropping all the older players and in the process damaged the harmony of the side. On one occasion, he asked VVS Laxman to consider opening the batting. Laxman politely turned him down, saying he had tried opening in the first half of his career because he was confused, but now he was settledin the middle order and Greg should consider him as a middle-order batsman.Gregs response stunned us all. He told Laxman he should be careful, because making a comeback at the age of thirty-two might not be easy. Infact, I later found out that Greg had spoken to the BCCI about the need to remove the senior players.ON HIS OWN STANDI dont think I would be far off the mark if I said that most of us felt that the Indian cricket was going nowhere under Chappell. Chappell was publiclyquestioning our commitment and instead of asking us to take fresh guard, was making matters worse.I suggested to the BCCI that the best option would be to keep Greg back in India and not send him with the team to the World Cup.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 11:54:19 +0000
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