Watch: Virender Sehwag made Greg Chappell eat humble pies in West Indies

Greg Chappell’s tenure as the head coach of the Indian Cricket Team from 2005 to 2007 is one of the most controversial chapters of Indian cricket. Former Indian batsman Virender Sehwag talked about Chappell’s stint with the team and revealed how the Australian could not create a positive environment around the players.

“If we talk about Chappell’s cricketing knowledge, (it is) superb. But if we talk about his man-management capability, it’s zero. His Sehwag-management was a total flop too! A coach needs to pinpoint the players that are important for the team, that are churning out good performances in the matches. He needs to give them their time and space. You don’t need a coach in international cricket, but a friend who knows how to handle you, how to manage you,” said Sehwag in his interview with What The Duck.

The right-handed batsman talked about a time when the Australian tried to correct his footwork: the Indian team was in the middle of a Test series against the West Indies. The players were in St Lucia, preparing for their next Test against the hosts. A disagreement over Sehwag’s footwork took place between him and the coach in the practice session one day before the second Test.

Talking about the same, Sehwag said, “Chappell instructed me to stretch my leg completely while batting in the practice session and claimed that that would be extremely useful for me. I tried a few shots that way, but I wasn’t comfortable with the change. I told him the same while saying that I have never batted like that in my life and the practice wasn’t worth the time for me.”

The 38-year-old then revealed that his reluctance to follow Chappell’s methods enraged the Australian. He claimed that Sehwag had to do it his way because he was the coach and knew better than the batsman. That’s when things started to heat up and it required the mediation of the then-captain Rahul Dravid to cool things off between the two.

The man from Delhi also said that Chappell warned him to change his style, saying that it would work against him in international cricket and that he would not be able to sustain at the highest level unless he changed it. Sehwag, being his quick-witted self, refuted saying that the coach and go ahead and drop him if he fails to perform for the team.

“The match against West Indies took place the very next day. I was at 99 before lunch. When I came to the dressing room, I told him that it doesn’t matter if my feet will move or not, at the end of the day I will score runs. I did exactly that. He was quiet after that,” concluded Sehwag.

The explosive opening batsman ended up with a gigantic knock of 180 runs in the innings and helped steer his team to a mammoth first innings total of 588. Sehwag’s innings, and his words to the then-coach and silencing him with his bat are a typical personification of his fiery yet laid-back personality.

It shows that you can find ways of trying to get into the man’s head, but you are most likely to fail in your attempts of doing the same! He silenced a vigorous Australian coach: what other proof do we need?