Greg Chappell could've been a good batting coach but he couldn't run the team properly: Mohammad Kaif

Greg Chappell was one of the best Australian batsmen during the 70s and 80s. So, when he became the coach of the Indian national team, everyone was excited. However, hell broke loose upon the team. Sourav Ganguly, the then captain of the side, was removed from captaincy and also dropped from the side. It was finally an early exit at the 2007 World Cup which made BCCI sack Chappell as the coach.

In the years to come, the majority of the players from that squad have criticised the former Australian batsman. Players like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh have made critical comments on the Australian’s tenure as the coach. Now, former Indian batsman, Mohammad Kaif has also given his opinion on Chappell’s coaching.

‘Chappell couldn’t understand the Indian culture’: Mohammad Kaif

In an interview, Kaif said that it was his poor man-management skill which made him incapable of being a good coach. The 39-year-old also pointed out that former Australian batsman was unaware of how to deal with the Indian culture. However, the former batsman also said that Chappell might have been a better batting coach had he gone for that post.

“Chappell could have been a good batting coach. But he spoilt his name, as he could not run the team properly, he couldn’t understand the Indian culture and lacked good man-management skills and hence didn’t prove to be a good coach,” Kaif was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

Chappell had replaced John Wright as the head coach. Wright, the former New Zealand batsman, was team India’s coach from 2000 till 2005. He was credited as one of the best coaches India ever had. Under him, the team had tremendous success and also qualified to the World Cup final in 2003. Kaif also compared Chappell with Wright.

“People respected John Wright because he coordinated well with the players and let Ganguly the captain lead the team from the front,” Kaif said.

Recently, after reading an interview of Chappell, Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh posted a tweet in which he called the era under Chappell as the worst time in Indian cricket. “He asked Dhoni to play along the ground coz coach was hitting everyone out the park. He was playing different games. #worstdaysofindiancricketundergreg”, his tweet read.

He asked Dhoni to play along the ground coz coach was hitting everyone out the park.. He was playing different games 😜#worstdaysofindiancricketundergreg 😡😡😡 https://t.co/WcnnZbHqSx

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) May 13, 2020