Rahul Dravid, during India’s tour of Zimbabwe in 2005, had refused the request of the then coachGreg Chappell of dropping captain Sourav Ganguly from the team, the India team manager for the tour Amitabh Choudhary has recollected. The differences between Ganguly and Chappell in their time together as captain and coach, was among the most volatile moments in Indian cricket in the last decade; it ended with Ganguly’s omission and subsequent comeback to the team, and Chappell’s resignation from his role following an underwhelming tenure that ended with India’s debacle in the World Cup in 2007. READ: Sourav Ganguly’s controversy-filled cricket career captured in book
The controversy that blew to embarrassing levels started in Zimbabwe in 2005. “It happened at a training session two days before the first Test (in Bulawayo). The skipper left training midway and returned to the empty dressing room. He came back and threw himself on to a chair, visibly disgusted. I asked him what happened. Pointing at Chappell, who was on the ground overseeing the net session, Ganguly said, ‘That guy’s crazy.’ Then he told what Chappell had just said,” Choudhary, who is now Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) joint secretary, said in his speech at Xavier Institute of Social Service in Ranchi, as reported by The Times of India.
“I instantly understood what had just happened was explosive. So after pacifying Ganguly, I had a chat with his deputy Rahul Dravid. Then we walked up to the coach to tell him that dropping the skipper was beyond his jurisdiction.” READ: Sourav Ganguly: Rahul Dravid admitted that he couldn’t control Greg Chappell
Ganguly was axed from the team following that tour, and he made a return on India’s tour of South Africa in 2006-07. His solid performances with the bat in the Test series against South Africa got him a permanent spot in the Indian middle order till his retirement, when he scored 85 and 0 against Australia in 2008.
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