Sourav Ganguly mocks Greg Chappell in style as 2005 sacking 'did not dent his confidence'

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is one of the most celebrated cricketers in the country. The southpaw brought about a revolution in the Indian team and changed the way the game was played with his aggressive captaincy. Sourav Ganguly also captained India and reorganised the team after the match-fixing scandal in the 2000s and build a fearless brand of Indian cricket which transformed Indian cricket. 

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Ganguly vs Chappell: BCCI President opens up on the injustice he suffered in 2005

However, Sourav Ganguly was dropped from both the ODI and Test team after returning from the Zimbabwe tour in 2005. He was also stripped off the captaincy. Ganguly's axing from the Indian team became one of the most talked-about incidents of Indian cricket. It was the then India coach Greg Chappell, who is held responsible for Sourav Ganguly's ouster.

Sourav Ganguly has spoken on several occasions about the injustice he had to suffer in 2005. Recently, while speaking to Bengali daily Sangbad Pratidin, Sourav Ganguly revealed that he didn't lose confidence after he was dropped as he knew he would score if the team decides to play him. Sourav Ganguly stated that it wasn't his coach but him who went out in the middle to play against the likes of Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath and Shoaib Akhtar and managed to score runs against them.

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Sourav Ganguly reckoned that if he had done that successfully for 10 years, then he knew he could do that again if he was given the opportunity. Sourav Ganguly also said that he was very upset when he was dropped from the side but never lost confidence, not even for a second. Ganguly mentioned that Greg Chappell should not be blamed alone for his axing.

Speaking about Greg Chappell, the BCCI President said that there is no doubt about the fact that he was the one who started it. Ganguly pointed out that Greg Chappell suddenly sent an email against him to the board, which got leaked too. He added that a cricket team is like a family and something like this shouldn't happen.

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Ganguly further said that there can differences of opinion, misunderstandings in the family but that should be sorted out with dialogue. He reckoned that if Greg Chappell wanted him to play in a certain manner, then he should have come and told him. He also said that when he returned as a player, Greg Chappell had specified the same things to him, which he could have earlier.

After Ganguly was dropped, the captaincy was given to Rahul Dravid. However, Ganguly made a comeback to the Indian team in 2006 for the tour to South Africa where he scored runs galore. The Bengal Tiger went on to play some the best knocks over the next two years till his retirement in late 2008.

Ganguly vs Chappell safa

Ganguly vs Chappell was one of the major topics of discussion back then. Greg Chappell was appointed as India’s coach in May 2005 and held the top job until the team’s early exit from the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. During his two-year tenure, ironically, it was his working relationship with Sourav Ganguly that became a subject of negative public and media commentary.

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