Greg Chappell Nearly Made Virender Sehwag The Indian Captain Before Dropping Him In 2005, Says The Former Opener

Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag recently revealed that former Indian head coach Greg Chappell nearly made him the team captain following Sourav Ganguly’s ousting from the job back in 2005, before dropping him from the team as well two months later.

Australian legend Chappell was appointed as the coach of the Indian Cricket Team in May 2005, joining the team in September. In October of that year, Greg dropped the then-captain Ganguly from the squad, later replacing him with Rahul Dravid. His two-year stint with the Indian team wasn’t highly fruitful. Despite impressive performances in 2006, Chappell was removed from his post following India’s group-stage exit in the 2007 ODI World Cup.

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Sehwag recently opened up about when Chappell first came into the job, he gave a statement about how Sehwag would be the next captain. Two months later, he was out of the team.

“When Greg Chappell came, the first statement which Chappell gave was that Sehwag will be the next captain. I don’t know what happened in 2 months that I got dropped from the team, let alone become captain,” he said on News18.

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It should be noted that both – Ganguly and Sehwag would make comebacks into team India, with Sourav even captaining the side before retiring in 2008.

“Why do we need another foreign coach” – Virender Sehwag believes India does not need a foreign coach

Having played under foreign coaches like John Wright, Greg Chappell and Gary Kirsten for most of his international career, Virender Sehwag believes that the Indian Cricket Team do not need international coaches, as the country produces good enough coaches itself.

“I have always believed that in our country, we have good coaches who can manage the Indian team; hence we don’t need foreign coaches. But when I was playing, I asked this question to my seniors ‘Why do we need another foreign coach after John Wright?’. All of them, who had spent a lot of time with Indian coaches said that Indian coaches at times get biased towards players – some become favourites and those who don’t are pushed at the end of the line. So when a foreign coach comes, he will look at them differently. But to be honest, that doesn’t chance. Even a foreign coach can feel the pressure of dealing with a Tendulkar or a Dravid or a Ganguly or a Laxman.” said Sehwag

India’s last two coaches – Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid, have both been Indian, with the current junior-level coach and next in line being VVS Laxman, also a former Indian player.

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