Virender Sehwag Finally Opens Up on Ugly Dressing Room Fight With Greg Chappell
Virender Sehwag opens up on heated fight with Greg Chappell in 2005, reveals how it inspired his 184 against West Indies.
Virender Sehwag has never been one to mince words, whether on the field or off it. Years after hanging up his boots, the former Indian opener has now revisited one of the ugliest dressing room fights of his career, one that involved then coach Greg Chappell during the troubled mid-2000s.
The clash, Sehwag revealed on the Life Saver podcast, came during a difficult phase for Indian cricket. Chappell had taken charge in 2005 with big expectations but his hard-nosed approach soon unsettled the dressing room. Sourav Ganguly lost the captaincy, senior pros felt alienated, and friction became the norm.
For Sehwag, the breaking point came when Chappell questioned his batting technique and even threatened to drop him.
“Greg told me I wouldn’t survive in international cricket unless I moved my feet. I reminded him that I had already scored over 6000 Test runs at an average above 50. He didn’t care and kept repeating the same line. That’s when things turned ugly. We had a big argument, and Rahul Dravid had to step in,” Sehwag recalled.
The war of words spilled onto the field in the very next match. Chappell warned him again that his place was at risk if he failed. Sehwag answered in the best way possible, with the bat. Against West Indies, he hammered the bowlers to all corners, raced to 99 before lunch, and finished with a blistering 184.
When he returned to the dressing room, his anger hadn’t cooled
“I told Dravid, ‘Tell your coach not to come near me.’ Later, I looked straight at Chappell and said, ‘Doesn’t matter if I move my feet or not, I know how to score runs,’” Sehwag said.
The episode is just another reminder of how divisive the Greg Chappell era was. Between 2005 and 2007, Indian cricket was in constant turmoil.
From Sachin Tendulkar being pushed down to No.4, to Irfan Pathan’s failed promotion as an all-rounder, to Ganguly’s ouster as captain, the dressing room never settled. Seniors grew frustrated, youngsters were caught in the middle, and the results reflected the chaos.
