Greg Chappell hits out at Tendulkar, 'didn't think of him as India captain'

Melbourne: Former Indian coach Greg Chappell has denied Sachin Tendulkar’s claims that he asked the Indian batting legend to lead Team India at the 2007 World Cup in West Indies.

Sachin Tendulkar, in his soon to be published autobiography ‘Playing it My Way’, has claimed the Australian urged him to captain the Indian side in the World Cup played in the Caribbean.

Tendulkar wrote, “Just months before the World Cup, Chappell had come to see me at home and, to my dismay, suggested that I should take over the captaincy from Rahul Dravid,"

Read: Chappell wanted to snatch captaincy from Dravid before World Cup 2007: Sachin Tendulkar

"Anjali [Tendulkar's wife], who was sitting with me, was equally shocked to hear him say that 'together, we could control Indian cricket for years', and that he would help me in taking over the reins of the side.

"I was surprised to hear the coach not showing the slightest amount of respect for the captain, with cricket's biggest tournament just months away. He stayed for a couple of hours, trying to convince me, before finally leaving.”

Read: Dravid knew it all but could not control Greg Chappell: Sourav Ganguly

In an interview to an Australian website cricket.com.au, Greg Chappell said, “The claims made in Sachin's new book were brought to my attention earlier today."

"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.

"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."