“One of my early tours was to Sri Lanka [2005] for a triangular one-day series, and [Sourav] Ganguly was unavailable because of a suspension for slow over rates,” Chappell writes in his new book titled Not Out.

He continues, “Jagmohan Dalmiya, the most powerful man in the BCCI at the time, said to me, ‘Greg, would you like Sourav to go on the tour, we can organise it.’ I said, ‘I don’t think we should interfere in the process, plus it’s an opportunity to look at Rahul Dravid and see what options we have.’ Dalmiya was happy enough with that response, and so we went to Sri Lanka without Ganguly.”

The former Australian batsman then went on to claim that despite opposition from senior team members, Ganguly was brought back into the side midway through the tour. “The team was a different place without Ganguly, but he became available again midway through the tour. I sat down with some of the senior players and asked whether they wanted him back, and they said ‘no we don’t’, but the selectors brought him back,” he writes.

Chappell joined the India team as head coach in 2005 after John Wright’s contract came to an end. His two-year tumultuous stint at the helm was marked by controversies, with led to reported instances of friction with senior players and bitter fallout with Ganguly. Since then, Chappell has often taken potshots at the former Indian captain, questioning his work ethics and accusing him of having been an impediment in the path of the team’s progress.

Most recently, Chappell said he had become the coach because of Ganguly and that he left because the resistance within the team got too much after the southpaw returned to the team.

Speaking on the Cricket Life Stories podcast, Chappell said, “Ganguly was the one who approached me about coaching India. I had other approaches but I decided that since John Buchanan was coaching Australia… I would love to coach the most populous, fanatical cricket country in the world, and that opportunity came about because Sourav, who was the captain, made sure that I did.”

“The two years in India were challenging on every front. The expectations were ridiculous. Some of the issues were around Sourav being captain. He didn’t particularly want to work hard. He didn’t want to improve his cricket. He just wanted to be in the team as captain, so that he could control things,” Chappell said.

Speaking at a book launch programme later, Ganguly said he had made a mistake to suggest Chappell’s name for the role. “I once had an opportunity to select the coach. I thought I messed it up in 2005. I’m given that opportunity again. Hopefully we will do it correctly this time, whoever it is… Luckily, I have got support in Sachin, VVS, the BCCI secretary and president. Together we will pick the right person,” he said at a book launch programme in 2016.

In Not Out, Chappell travels down the memory lane, recounting his experiences during his eventful stint as the coach of the Indian team and throws light on a decade at Cricket Australia, including warning signs he saw ahead of the Newlands scandal.