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Former Indian cricket skipper Sourav Ganguly made a massive claim during his appearance on the Adda With GB podcast. The 53-year-old said that former Australian skipper and India coach Greg Chappell had contacted him in the early years of the IPL. Dada said that Chappell had expressed interest in being the coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders.

In the podcast, India’s former skipper said, “Chappell had sent me an email when I was the KKR captain, that he wanted to coach the side. with me leading the side.”  Former BCCI president was asked about his thoughts regarding such a move, to which he replied, “Can be fooled once but not again and again.”

The current Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) also recalled a time when the Aussie great had reached out to him to sign a petition in favour of Pakistan skipper Imran Khan. Recalling the incident, theformer batting great said, “Don’t answer people who aren’t honest. It is ok to have opinions. One can feel a certain way about a player, which is fine. It is not right to take a different route to solve issues. Always respect people who are honest enough to say you aren’t good enough on the face.”

In the same podcast, Sourav was also asked to name his pick between the former India captain and John Buchanan as the coach. Buchanan coached the side in the formative years and brought about the now-famous multiple captain strategy during the IPL 2009 season. Bengal batting star chose the former and said that Chappell knew the game.

Greg Chappell vs Sourav Ganguly controversy in a nutshell

In 2003, when India had toured Australia, then skipper Sourav Ganguly had gone early and spoken to the former Aussie skipper. The move paid off since the batter scored an impressive century in the first Test in Brisbane.

After John Wright’s spell as India coach ended in 2005, Greg was appointed as his successor. Things came to a head during the tour of Zimbabwe the same year when the coach and captain had a public falling out after it came to light that the Aussie had written an email to BCCI.

One of the excerpts, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo, from the explosive mail read, “Mr Ganguly came to me following the recently completed tri-series of one-day matches here in Zimbabwe and asked me to tell him honestly where he stood as a player in my view. I told him that I thought he was struggling as a player and that it was affecting his ability to lead the team effectively, and that the pressure of captaincy was affecting his ability to play to his potential.”

Former KKR skipper was then dropped in early 2006 before making his return to the side 10 months later during a tour of South Africa. In 2007, the Men in Blue suffered a first-round exit in the 50-over World Cup, losing to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. That ended Chappell’s reign as the national coach.