Why Greg Chappell will always remain one of the all time greats in cricket

Greg Chappell seems to be the favourite whipping boy for some Indian cricket stars. Sourav Ganguly, as expected, has had more than a go at the former India coach in his latest book. However, not all cricket fans are convinced about Chappell's coaching ways being awry. And no matter how turbulent his coaching stint was here, no one can deny that he was a very determined and great batsman.

This diarist thought it would be apt to do a relevant recall. In 1983-84, Chappell decided to call it a day and the Sydney Test against Pakistan would be his last. He carved a hundred, just like he did when he began his Australia innings way back in 1970 against old enemy England at Perth.

At Sydney in 1984, he took 182 off a Pakistan attack comprising Sarfraz Nawaz, Mudassar Nazar, Azeem Hafeez as well as spin wizard Abdul Qadir and he passed some milestones during that Test. Many years after his swansong, Chappell said that passing Don Bradman's Australian record run tally of 6996 runs in that final Test was secondary. What was paramount was to go out on a high and win the Test match for Australia. That was achieved with a 10-wicket win. Records never mattered much for Gregory Stephen Chappell but there was always, as former England Test captain Ted Dexter once wrote, "a resilience and willingness to learn and change."

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