Greg Chappell ‘surprised’ after Tendulkar’s claims, says never contemplated replacing Rahul Dravid

Tendulkar has mentioned in his book that the Australian wanted him to lead at the 2007 World Cup.

Rahul Dravid’s captaincy had seen India break new barriers in terms of chasing down totals after he took over in 2005 (Source: File)

After Sachin Tendulkar claimed in his book that Greg Chappell, the former India coach, wanted to have the little master as the captain of the team, the surprised Australian has completely denied such claims.

“The claims made in Sachin’s new book were brought to my attention earlier today,” Chappell told cricket.com.au.

“Whilst I don’t propose to get into a war of words, I can state quite clearly that during my time as Indian coach I never contemplated Sachin replacing Rahul Dravid as captain. I was therefore very surprised to read the claims made in the book.

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Tendulkar has mentioned in his book that Chappell visited his Bandra residence months before the 2007 World Cup and suggested that he should to take over as captain of the team. The former Australian skipper, though, has played down such claims.

“During those years, I only ever visited Sachin’s home once, and that was with our physio and assistant coach during Sachin’s rehabilitation from injury, at least 12 months earlier than what was reported in the book.

“We enjoyed a pleasant afternoon together but the subject of captaincy was never raised.”

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