While addressing a forum at Xavier Institute of Social Service, Choudhary said that the first signs of trouble came during the training session before the first Test in Bulawayo.
Joint Secretary of the BCCI, Amitabh Choudhary, who was the Indian team manager on the 2005 Zimbabwe tour, on Saturday revealed that Rahul Dravid had refused to drop Sourav Ganguly despite controversial former coach Greg Chappell's insistence.
According to an NDTV report, while addressing a forum at Xavier Institute of Social Service, Choudhary said that the first signs of trouble came during the training session 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," he stated.
Choudhary said that the situation had turned volatile and he sought to pacify 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," he added.
The spat between former India skipper Sourav Ganguly and India coach Greg Chappell in 2005 has been one of the most controversial incidents in Indian cricket. During India's tour to Zimbabwe, Ganguly and Chappell had clashed, setting off a crisis in the Indian team. Ganguly, who was struggling for runs, was dropped after the end of the tour and Rahul Dravid was appointed the captain.
Following the spat, relations between Chappell and the Indian public deteriorated and after India's first-round exit from the 2007 World Cup, Chappell was sacked as the coach.
But that was not to be the end of the saga. In his autobiography 'Playing It My Way' Sachin Tendulkar revealed that Chappell wanted him to take over the captaincy from Dravid late in the former's tenure, and just before the 2007 World Cup. VVS Laxman also slammed Chappell, claiming he took Indian cricket 'backwards'.
Though Chappell has denied all these allegations, it seems Chappell era controversies will not die an easy death.
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