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Greg Chappell reveals why Rahul Dravid was made captain and reason behind Sourav Ganguly`s axing from Team India
Former Australia cricketer Greg Chappell is making headlines again for his stint as Team India coach, during which the Men In Blue made a first-round exit from the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007.
Former Australia cricketer Greg Chappell is making headlines again for his stint as Team India coach, during which the Men In Blue made a first-round exit from the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007. His reign also saw a bad chapter in former India cricketer and current BCCI President Sourav Ganguly's cricketing career, which led to the Bengal batsman first getting axed from captaincy and then losing his spot in the team.
Following the developments then Rahul Dravid was given the charge to lead Team India and years after Chappell has now went on to make big claims about both the former India legends.
Chappell during a recent interaction on Cricket Life Stories Podcast went on to reveal that it was Dravid who was keen about taking the team forward and making it the best in the world, while other senior players were just focused on saving their spots in the side.
“Dravid was really invested in India becoming the best team in the world. Sadly, not everyone in the team had the same feeling. They would rather concentrate on being in the team. There was some resistance from some of the senior players because some of them were coming to the end of their careers,” said Chappell.
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Chappell further said that axing Ganguly sent out a strong message to other members in the side that no one could take their spots for granted. The former Australian cricketer also felt the decision worked good for the team but things took a drastic turn after Ganguly's return into the side.
“When Sourav got dropped from the team, we had a lot of attention from the players, because they realized if he can go, anyone can go. We had a great 12 months, but then the resistance got too much, Ganguly came back into the team. The message from the players was loud and clear – ‘We don’t want change.’ Even though the board offered me a new contract, I decided that I did not need that kind of stress,” added Chappell.