A few days back, a report in Daily Telegraph stated that Australian coach Mickey Aurthur has invited former India coach Greg Chappell to address the Oz team on how to tackle cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar. “Chappell will address the Australian squad for the first Test next week and he is the one man with the knowledge to demystify the champion (Tendulkar) Australia never feel they have got to the bottom of,” the report said.
“To Australian bowlers, Tendulkar has been the master they have never mastered. His record against Australia in Tests- he averages 60.6 with 11 centuries in 31 Tests- makes him the greastest Aussie baher of his generation,” the report further stated.
However, according to Ganguly, who shared a tumultuous relationship with Chappell, will make no difference to the team’s performance. “If you look at 2008 series which happened to be my last, Chappell was present in the Australian team’s support staff. Yet we won the series 2-0. Therefore, I don’t think his presence would make any difference this time also,” stated the former India skipper.
“He came with some personal Vendetta and also lacked foresight. He didn’t want a settled dressing room. He made mistake after mistake but the then captain Rahul Dravid never had the guts to stop him (Chappell) from his wrongdoing,” Ganguly added.
In his recently-published biography, Chappell had stated that Ganguly wanted him to be ‘grateful’ for getting him the India coach’s job. “He expected I would be so grateful to him for getting me the job that I’d become his henchman in his battle to remain captain. I, on the other hand, took on a job with the primary responsibilty to Indian cricket and the Indian people,” Chappell has said in his book, ‘Fierce Focus’.
Ganguly on his part commented that it was his ‘mistake’ to get Chappell the coach’s job. “He was against Tendulkar, Laxman, Zaheer, Harbhajan and all of them have proved to be world class players. They are still performing for their country even now,” Ganguly said.
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