Chappell conceded there was no way he would have got the job without Ganguly's backing but he did not return the favour because he was a 'struggling player'.
LONDON: Indian coach Greg Chappell has conceded that there was no way he would have got the job without the backing of Sourav Ganguly but he did not return the favour to the former captain because he was a “struggling player” who had nothing to offer to the team.
“Certainly, there is no way I would have got the job here without his influence,” he told the Guardian. “But, we clashed because his needs as a struggling player and captain and those of the team were different.”
Chappell said Ganguly came to him for batting tips some years ago and that’s when the two became friends. But, the appointment of the Aussie as the successor to John Wright spelled the end of that. “I helped him with his batting then,” Chappell recalled. “So maybe he thought I would be his mate and support him now. I am sure he thought he would be able to run me as he did John in the latter part of his time as coach.”
Chappell once again confirmed that he did ask Ganguly to step down from captaincy but the advice was only aimed at helping him revive his career. “In essence, I told Sourav that if he wanted to save his career he should consider giving up the captaincy. He was just hanging in there. Modest innings were draining him. He had no energy to give to the team, which was helping neither him nor us,” he said. “It was in his own interest to give himself mind space to work on his batting so that it could be resurrected but he was not prepared to do that,” he added. The Aussie said he had no idea what captaincy meant for Ganguly and why he wanted to cling on to the post despite the fact that he was undergoing the worst phase of his career. “What I didn’t realise at that stage was how utterly important to his life and finances being captain was.”
He said he had moved on after the furore which saw his effigies being burnt by Ganguly’s fans and the media going after him for targetting India’s most successful captain. “I am not the hard-nosed control freak that I have been portrayed as. I am thorough, a realist, a pragmatist and I’m honest. Much has been written and said, a lot of it misleading. The controversy will carry on but I have learned if I can’t be totally impervious to it, then it is beyond my control,’’ he said.
“I have to let it wash by and say people have their reasons for saying what they do and I can’t be distracted by that. At the end of my time, the team and, therefore, I will be judged ultimately on the results we achieve.”
Dada speaks up
Sourav Ganguly isn’t one to take this sort of criticism lightly
‘‘My attention has been drawn to the article by Sourav and I will take it up with the Board tomorrow” —BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah to DNA on Wednesday
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