In the history of head coaches of the Indian cricket team, the one name that has been associated with the most disputes and detested by the country’s cricket fandom is Greg Chappell. In just two years of his stint with Team India, the controversial figure earned much detest following his spat with former captain Sourav Ganguly, and a number of players who were dissatisfied with the former Aussie cricketer’s management. Such one name is Harbhajan Singh, as the iconic spinner recently opened up on how Chappell did the damage to the squad.
Following the departure of New Zealand hall of fame John Wright, Greg Chappell joined as India’s head coach in 2005. In addition to his falling out with Ganguly, Chappell also earned slack for India’s poor performance at the 2007 Cricket World Cup, the same tournament that Harbhajan Singh dubs as ‘the lowest point’ of his career.
In a recent chat in his former teammate Aakash Chopra’s official YouTube channel, Harbhajan opened up on the former Men in Blue gaffer, accusing him of damaging the squad during his tenure.
“When Greg Chappell came as the coach of our side, he disrupted the entire team, no one knows what was his motive when he came to coach us, no one knows how to disrupt a solid team better than him, he used to do whatever he wanted,” Bhajji said in the video.
India were eliminated in the first round of the 2007 World Cup, followed by Chappell’s rift with Ganguly, which made him a detesting figure in the Indian sports media and the cricket fans. In addition to Harbhajan himself, senior faces of the team such as Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan spoke against Chappell and his coaching method.
“2007 50-over World Cup has to be the lowest point of my career, I thought we are going through such a difficult time and I also thought that maybe it is not right time to play for India, wrong people were at the helm of Indian cricket, Greg Chappell was trying to divide and lead, he used to do such things,” the 39 year old added.
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