Greg Chappell is a name that brings quite bad memories when it comes to his tenure as the head coach of the Indian team from 2005-2007. However, many forget that under Chappell, India became a powerhouse while chasing totals in ODIs and won their maiden Test in South Africa in 2006 and a Test series in West Indies after 35 years.

However, the biggest positive that Greg Chappell brought to the Indian team was backing the talent of MS Dhoni. "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,” Chappell said in a chat session on the Facebook handle of the Playwrite Foundation.

"Test cricket will die the day India gives it up" - Greg Chappell

"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 inning to the one he had played just a couple of days before,” Chappell said.

"We still needed 20 runs to win and Dhoni asked me, through 12th man RP 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.

Chappell also mentioned how he used to tell him to finish the game and hit the winning runs. "I always used to challenge him if he could finish the game. There used to be a booming smile on his face, whenever he used to score the winning runs. He is definitely the best finisher the game has ever seen," he signed off.

(India Today inputs)