It would be an understatement to say that the autobiography of India's greatest cricketer ever would create waves, and a sneak peek into that was delivered on Monday when a small excerpt from Sachin Tendulkar's 'Playing It My Way' sent shockwaves among cricket fans and fraternity.
"Chappell wanted to replace me with [Rahul] Dravid as India captain in 2007," Tendulkar writes, while calling the controversial former India coach as "ringmaster".
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Chappell's estranged relationship with Indian players and the BCCI is not unknown, but coming from a man who gets the attention of almost every one in a country of more than 1.2 billion and one who never put his feelings into words before November 16, 2013, will be news any day.
"Together, we could control Indian cricket for years", Tendulkar writes about the Australian telling him during a visit to his home in Mumbai, while offering "help in taking over the reins of the side" from Dravid.
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"Anjali [Tendulkar's wife], who was sitting with me was equally shocked. I was surprised to hear the coach not showing the slightest amount of respect for the captain, with cricket's biggest tournament [World Cup] just months away," Tendulkar writes.
And as expected reactions from the biggest names in Indian cricket followed Tendulkar's revelations.
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RAHUL DRAVID
"I haven't really read the excerpts of that book. Also I am not privy to any private conversation between two individuals. I have not heard about this before and I have no idea what happened and I would not want to make any comment," Dravid told ESPNCricinfo.
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"It's been a long time and it does not make much of a difference to me now. Not looking forward towards reading this [Chappell controversy] but yes anything that Sachin writes on batsmanship and things like what made him the best in the world. I am more interested in reading those parts."
SOURAV GANGULY
"I really don't want to go back to that period, you have seen it in the results. [It was] one of worst phases of Indian cricket and worst phase a cricketer can go through, especially someone like me. There were lies after lies and six months later he wanted Rahul removed and Sachin as captain. This goes on to show how the man went about his job.
"When I came back to the team [after the 2007 World Cup], I had spoken to Dravid about that much later and told him that these were the things going on. He said he knew it all but 'couldn't control Greg'."
Asked to throw some light on Tendulkar claiming in his book that Chappell once told him "I have got the job because of Sourav but that did not mean he was going to do favours to Sourav for the rest of his life", Ganguly asked, "Is it? "I haven't heard about that before. This must be closed door discussion between Chappell and Sachin. But I presume it is true and I think it is absolutely ridiculous.
"I am happy to see the way Tendulkar has written the book. Today he has done a lot of help to Indian cricket and hopefully it is an eye-opener to all. Happy that Sachin has written about true facts of that period," he said.
"I am happy that someone of Sachin's credibility has spoken about it. I wish someday I could tell my side of the story," Ganguly said.
SUNIL GAVASKAR
I think at the end of the day the players have to go out there and do their bit. I don't think it's fair to blame the coach. Maybe if you think the coach has given them the wrong work ethic or the coach has given wrong tactical advice, then yes you could possibly say that the coach is to be blamed. But at the end of the day the coach is on the sidelines while the guys out on the field have a job to do.
I don't think it's right to blame the coach entirely for the debacle of 2007 World Cup.
Dravid has enormous respect for Greg Chappell for the kind of cricket that he played, the batting that he did; and he would have been one of his idols, I would imagine; and if what Sachin says is correct, then I think the man who would be most disappointed is Dravid.
But Greg is wrong in thinking that he could have controlled cricket in India with Sachin," Gavaskar told a TV channel.
HARBHAJAN SINGH
"Chappell destroyed Indian cricket to such an extent that it required at least 3 years to again get back on track. The worst part was some players in that team, who sucked upto the coach and would supply selective misinformation creating bigger rifts.
"There were seven guys that he wanted to get rid of. Sourav was his primary target followed by myself, Virender Sehwag, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh. He was supposed to take India to the next level in international cricket. But during that phase, there was one point of time, we were playing like U-14s."
ZAHEER KHAN
"After he was appointed the coach of the Indian team, he once came upto me and told 'Zaheer, you will not be playing for India till I remain the coach'. I understood one thing. This man had agendas and was getting personal. He had his set ideas and if you didn't fall in line, then you have to be prepared to fall by the wayside. He tried to finish my career but I believe I came back even stronger in South Africa during the end of 2006.
"He had some issues with the senior guys in the team. He tried many ways to stop my comeback into the Indian team during the phase when I was out of the team for nearly a year. I came to know later that everytime when my name was discussed, he (Chappell) would find means to delay my comeback by 3-4 months," added Zaheer.
RAJIV SHUKLA, vice president of the BCCI
"Whatever Sachin has said is right, I also came to know that there were differences between Greg and other senior players.. Sachin also told me about this issue, I conveyed this to Sharad Pawar also."
SHISHIR HATTANGADI, former Mumbai captain
"To be honest, we are all aware of the turmoil Indian cricket went through in 2007. That period wasn't good for the general mood of the dressing room. That was a period most cricket lovers would be very inquisitive about.
It's obvious that it [Chappell as coach] didn't work for Indian cricket. The imposing personality wanted to make some knee-jerk changes. It was going against the tradition, something that has never happened in Indian cricket. I think the mood in the dressing room, mood among senior players must not have been good.
If Sachin has thrown some light on it in his book, it will give us a new dimension reading about what happens within the confines of locker rooms, and it's something that as a reader I would love to go through.
Tendulkar is somebody who is very reticent when it comes to stirring up a controversy. In his career he has gone through so many issues that he would like to vent out...but somehow he has had the temperament like he has on the cricket field to be able to control himself and not speak about it [during his playing days]. I think he sensed it could do more damage to Indian cricket.
VVS Laxman
Greg Chappell took Indian cricket backwards.
This happened in 2006 at the Wankhede Stadium when India played versus England. Yuvraj Singh was picked ahead of me. We were going to the West Indies for a four-Test series after that and he asked me if I would open.
I mentioned in 2000 I had decided I would not open anymore after it didn't work for me in the first four years. I was consistent in the middle order since 2000. Chappell asked me my age and said - Don't you think 31 is too young an age to sit at home? I was astonished to hear this. I had a very good run under him. I was the second highest run scorer under him.
The dressing room atmosphere in 2006 was the worst in Indian cricket.
(With agency inputs)
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