“Don’t think he ever respected Indian culture” - Robin Uthappa’s scathing attack on former India coach

Former Indian batter Robin Uthappa launched a scathing attack on Greg Chappell for creating a toxic environment during his coaching tenure with India. After the side's successful stint with John Wright, India appointed former Aussie batter Chappell as the head coach in 2005.

While the results were largely impressive until the 2007 ODI World Cup, Chappell was at the center of controversy with the then-captain Sourav Ganguly. Following ugly exchanges between the duo, Ganguly was eventually dropped from the Indian ODI and Test side ahead of the home series against Sri Lanka towards the end of 2005.

However, Chappell's tenure ended with India's embarrassing first-round exit pre-Super Eights in the 2007 ODI World Cup in the West Indies.

Recalling his time with Chappell as the Indian head coach, Uthappa said in an interview on the Lallantop YouTube channel:

"Greg Chappell was running an agenda. He was coaching with an Aussie mindset that 'This is how we do things in Australia'. II don’t think he ever respected Indian culture. He came in and tried to bring the Australian culture. The environment of that team was very bad.

He added:

In Cricket the most interesting thing is that 15-20 people from different states, culture and households are playing for one aim that is to play for India. There is a magic in that. When you get that right, playing cricket is something else."

"We enjoyed each other’s success in 2007 T20 World Cup. We played like a unit. Even if I got out, I want you (next batter) to score runs. Go and win the match for us. It doesn’t matter, who is scoring runs or taking wickets."

Apart from the 2007 World Cup disaster, Chappell also found no support from the players, several of whom have revealed the toxicity the Australian created during his stint.

"As a youngster Greg Chappell was very good for me" - Robin Uthappa

Uthappa spent the early part of his Indian career under Chappell [Credit: Getty]

Despite the Indian dressing room unraveling under Chappell, Robin Uthappa felt the Aussie legend was the ideal coach for him at the start of his international career.

Uthappa debuted for India in a home ODI series against England in 2006 when Chappell was in the middle of his coaching tenure.

"As a youngster Greg Chappell was very good for me. I just entered the team. I was young, and he used to back youngsters. As a 20-year-old, a dream was to play for India, win for India, hopefully one World Cup I will win for India. When you get that opportunity to play for the country, you feel like boss you don’t need anything else. I will give everything for my team. I played with that mindset," said Uthappa.

He felt Chappell's emphasis on fitness rubbed several established players the wrong way.

"It was during the Greg Chappell era when strength training was introduced. In Australia, it already existed. Greg Chappell saw that missing in India. Fitness was not the way of life. He was trying to bring in change. At that point, he found resistance from the seniors. They were not used to the fact that here is a guy coming and imposing things on us without showing us the basis respect that is shown," stated Uthappa.

Uthappa was a regular in the Indian ODI side during Chappell's coaching tenure and played in the horrific 2007 World Cup.