New Delhi: Former India coach Greg Chappell hit back at Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday stating that the claims made by the latter in his autobiography is untrue. Tendulkar had accused Greg Chappell of being a "ringmaster" who imposed his ideas on players.
Greg Chappell on Tuesday said that he never wanted to replace Dravid with Tendulkar as Indian captain. He claims that Sachin's claims are untrue.In his autobiography 'Playing it My Way', to be released worldwide on November 6, Tendulkar had lashed out at the former Australian cricketer describing him as a "ringmaster who imposed his ideas on the players without showing any signs of being concerned about whether they felt comfortable or not".
The batting maestro also disclosed that Chappell had made a "shocking" suggestion to him to take over India's captaincy from Rahul Dravid months before the 2007 World Cup in West Indies.
But Chappell said he was stunned by the claims. "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," Chappell said in a statement. "I was therefore very surprised to read the claims made in the book. "During those years, I only ever visited Sachin's home once, and that was with our physio and assistant coach during Sachin's rehabilitation from injury, at least 12 months earlier than what was reported in the book," he said.
Chappell said he enjoyed a pleasant afternoon at Tendulkar's home and the captaincy issue never came up for discussion. "We enjoyed a pleasant afternoon together but the subject of captaincy was never raised," Chappell added.
In the book Tendulkar wrote that Chappell told him that together they could "control Indian cricket for years".
Elaborating on the coach's bid to replace Dravid, Tendulkar writes, "Just months before the World Cup, Chappell had come to see me at home and, to my dismay, suggested that I should take over the captaincy from Rahul Dravid.
"Anjali (Tendulkar's wife), who was sitting with me was equally shocked to hear him say that 'together, we could control Indian cricket for year', 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", Tendulkar writes.
He says that he had rejected Chappell's proposition outright. "He stayed for a couple of hours, trying to convince me before finally leaving"
Chappell was appointed coach of the Indian national cricket team for a two-year term until the World Cup 2007. The Australian was also involved in a serious rift with former India skipper Sourav Ganguly.
(Z)