The Greg Chappell-saga with the Indian was one of the darkest moments in the country’s cricketing history. The disharmony among the players and Chappell was there for everyone to see and things turned very ugly in the end with Sourav Ganguly not only stripped off from captaincy but also dropped from the team.

Virender Sehwag, meanwhile, revealed that he was the first person to know that something was fishy with Chappell as he had seen the Australian sending the infamous e-mail to the BCCI.

The former Indian opener said that while he took a permission of leave from the umpire due to a tummy upset during India’s tour of Zimbabwe, he saw the former Australia captain sending the mail outside the washroom.

"It was near the washroom when I told Chappell about my upset stomach I saw him writing the email addressed to the BCCI. I did not get to see the content but I could reckon it was a very serious matter and informed Ganguly immediately."

The former dashing opener then thanked Sourav Ganguly for making him an opener when the Prince of Calcutta himself could have opened. It, however, wasn’t before some debate that Sehwag agreed to play as an opener.

In fact, he actually put forth a condition to Sourav Ganguly before agreeing to open.

"They said that 'you have batted as an opener in ODIs and you have enough experience there'." So my next question was Tendulkar has opened for a decade and you (Ganguly) started as an opener in 1998. So why can't you guys open and I can bat in the middle order.

"They said if you want to play Test cricket, this is the only place. Don't ask questions, if you want to do it (open) then do it, otherwise sit on the bench," Sehwag revealed what Ganguly told him.

"So then I said, Dada please just promise me if I fail as an opener in 3-4 games, you will give me a game in the middle order and he said 'done'." 

"Then I told John Wright to see that he fulfils his promise."

Sehwag then went on to score 84 in his first game at the Lord’s and was labelled as ‘stupidest’ for it.

"After that, rest is history. In my first game I scored 84 as an opener at Lord's. Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid told me that 'you're the stupidest' and I asked why. They said nobody has scored a hundred in their first game at Lord's and you missed it. I said I at least scored 84 and I was happy with that," Sehwag added.

He then spoke about the impact that Chris Gayle has had in the Indian Premier League while also candidly suggesting that even if he didn’t play with the fieriness that he is known for, the marketing benefits from his signing alone makes him worth the money.

"Isn't it right? I saved the IPL - nobody is bigger than Gayle. I was expecting Gayle to do this," Sehwag said.