Former Indian coach Greg Chappell has claimed that the fan-assault on him in Orissa was a racist attack and the incident convinced him to not renew his contract.
MELBOURNE: Former Indian coach Greg Chappell has claimed that the fan-assault on him in Orissa was a racist attack and the incident convinced him to not renew his contract with the BCCI.
The former Australia captain has also accused Indian Cricket Board of covering up the incident.
Chappell has made the accusations in a documentary, Guru Greg, which will be aired on ABC television next week, according to the 'Australian' newspaper.
"There are plenty of Indian cricketers the guy could have attacked but he chose to attack me. I don't really buy the fact that he was talking about the lack of Orissa players in the Indian team."
"If that was the case why didn't he accost the chairman of selectors or someone else who might have been involved in the selection process? Why would he attack one of the foreigners in the group, me as coach? There's a bit more to it than that," Chappell said.
Chappell, who is now associated as coach of an academy in Rajasthan, said the assault convinced him not to renew his contract with the BCCI.
"By that stage I had pretty much decided that the end of the contract was the end of the contract," Chappell said.
The former coach said he had written a letter to the BCCI expressing his disappointment on the way the whole incident was handled.
"As I said to the BCCI in a letter, had it been one of the players who were attacked there would have been an outcry but because it was me no one seemed to care," Chappell said.
"There was a cover-up. Everyone went into cover-up mode. The whole thing was played down. The only phone call I got from the BCCI asked me whether it really happened," he added.
Andrew Symonds, the Aussie-allrounder was subjected to 'monkey chants' during the recent India-Australia one-day series and the all-rounder had also accused the authorities of playing down the incident.
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