India ace spinner Harbhajan Singh, on Wednesday, took a jibe at Greg Chappell, who had recently spoken about his role in shaping MS Dhoni’s finishing skills. Recalling the time when Chappell was head coach of Team India, Bhajji termed it as ‘worst days of Indian cricket’.
In a Facebook interaction with Playwrite Foundation, Chappell said MSD is the best finisher he has ever seen and added that he told Dhoni to hit along the ground rather than ‘trying to hit every ball to the boundary’ during a match against Sri Lanka in 2005. Chappell revealed that he always told Dhoni to ‘finish games’ and it was his challenge which helped the latter in becoming ‘best finisher’.
“I remember his knock of 183 against Sri Lanka and how he tore them apart. It was power hitting at its very best. The next match was in Pune. I asked MS, ‘why don’t you play along the ground more instead of trying to hit every ball to the boundary’. We were chasing 260 odd and were in a good position, and Dhoni was playing a contrasting inning to the one he had played just a couple of days before,” Chappell said.
“I always used to challenge him if he could finish the game. There used to be a booming smile on his face whenever he used to score the winning runs. He is definitely the best finisher the game has ever seen,” the former Aussie cricketer added.
However, Harbhajan didn’t take kindly to Chappell’s comments and took to Twitter to respond to it.
“He asked Dhoni to play along the ground coz coach was hitting everyone out the park. He was playing different games #worstdaysofindiancricketundergreg,” the off-spinner tweeted.
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
Chappell’s stint as the head coach of Team India was a turbulent one, ending after Men in Blue’s unceremonious first-round exit in the 2007 World Cup.
Several players had let their displeasure be known during his time as a coach, with Chappell often chopping and changing the team and trying some radical tactics that did not work out.
