Former India cricket coach Greg Chappell has vehemently denied Sachin Tendulkar’s claims that the former Australian great tried to have the Indian captain removed before the 2007 World Cup.
In his autobiography “Playing It My Way”, extracts of which were released on Monday, Tendulkar says Chappell asked him to take over from Rahul Dravid as captain ahead of the tournament.
Chappell, who coached India between 2005 and 2007, rejected Tendulkar’s claim, saying he “never contemplated” such a move.
“The claims made in Sachin’s new book were brought to my attention earlier today,” the former Australian captain said in a statement on the Cricket Australia website.
“Whilst I don’t propose to get into a war of words, I can state quite clearly that during my time as Indian coach I never contemplated Sachin replacing Rahul Dravid as captain.
“I was therefore very surprised to read the claims made in the book.”
In the book, to be released worldwide on Thursday, Tendulkar says Chappell visited him at home a few months before the showpiece event in the Caribbean and suggested that he become the captain.
Chappell disputed this on Tuesday, saying he had visited the master batsman only once – 12 months before the incident was supposed to have taken place.
Chappell said he went to Tendulkar’s home with a physio and assistant coach during the Indian master’s rehabilitation from injury.
“We enjoyed a pleasant afternoon together but the subject of captaincy was never raised,” Chappell said.
In the book, Tendulkar describes Chappell as a “ringmaster who imposed his ideas on the players without showing any signs of being concerned about whether they felt comfortable or not”.
Tendulkar says he was shocked during the meeting at his home to hear Chappell “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 cricket’s biggest tournament just months away. He stayed for a couple of hours, trying to convince me, before finally leaving.”
Tendulkar says that he then suggested to the Board of Control for Cricket in India that Chappell should not be sent with the team to the World Cup, but the idea was rejected.
During Chappell’s controversial tenure in India, Sourav Ganguly was sacked as captain before the coach was himself shown the door after India’s shock first-round exit from the 2007 World Cup.
Tendulkar, a national icon, retired last year as the world’s leading run-getter in both Test and one-day cricket with an unprecedented 100 international centuries.
Dravid refused to be drawn into the controversy, telling the Cricinfo website that he was not privy to what was a private conversation.
But two other former team-mates, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, lashed out at Chappell.
While Khan told the Press Trust of India that “control freak” Chappell tried to prevent his comeback into the national team, Singh said the Australian “temporarily destroyed Indian cricket” by targeting senior players.
