Harbhajan Singh terms Greg Chappell era as 'worst days of Indian cricket'

Mumbai, May 13: Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Wednesday termed former coach Greg Chappell's era as the worst days in Indian cricket.

Responding to an article on decorated former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni where Chappell is quoted as saying that he used to advice the Ranchi stumper batsman to play along the ground more instead of trying to hit every ball to the boundary, Harbhajan tweeted: "He asked Dhoni to play along the ground coz coach was hitting everyone out the park.. He was playing different games." He followed his tweet with a hashtag #worstdaysofindiancricketundergreg.

Earlier, Chappell said that M.S. Dhoni is the most powerful batsman he has ever seen.

Chappell was coach of the Indian team for two controversy-riddled years between 2005 and 2007 in which he clashed with several senior members of the team, especially then-captain and current Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly.

His time, however, was also known for the rise of several younger players in the squad including Dhoni and Suresh Raina.

"I vividly remember that I was left awestruck when I saw him batting for the first time. He was definitely the most exciting cricketer in India at that time. He used to hit the ball from the most unusual positions. He is the most powerful batsman I have ever seen," said Chappell during a chat session on the Facebook handle of the Playwrite Foundation.

"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 innings to the one he had played just a couple of days before.

"We still needed 20 runs to win and Dhoni asked me, through 12th man R.P. Singh if he could hit sixes. I told him not until the target was in single digit. When we needed six runs to win, he finished the game with a six," he said.