Ganguly sought Wright's apology

A sobbing Virender Sehwag, an incensed Indian team and an angry skipper Sourav Ganguly demanding an apology from coach John Wright.

This was the tension-filled scene in the Indian dressing room at the Oval in 2002 after Wright held Sehwag by the collar and "barked" at him for throwing away his wicket in a NatWest Trophy match against Sri Lanka in England.

The former New Zealand skipper has gone public with this sensational incident in his just-published book Indian Summers.

More details of what happened emerged on Tuesday from the then manager of the Indian team, Rajiv Shukla, now a senior office-bearer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Asked about Wright's revelation, a reluctant Shukla said he kept the incident under wraps all these years because what happens inside dressing rooms is not supposed to be divulged. However, it is Wright who spilled the beans, he said.

Recalls Shukla, "We were sitting in the balcony outside the dressing room at the Oval. Sehwag had just got out and gone into the dressing room. Suddenly an agitated captain Ganguly came out from the room and complained to me that the coach had slapped Sehwag, who was sobbing.

"I rushed to the dressing room and found that Sehwag was indeed sobbing. He told me that Wright had pushed him. I patted him and controlled him," Shukla said.

Next, the manager started looking for the coach. "He was not in the dressing room but after some effort I found him in a small room adjacent to it. He was all by himself, tensed up and smoking, as he usually did whenever he was in tension," he said.

Shukla said he told Wright that he should not have treated Sehwag like that and the opening batsman was justifiably upset.

"Wright immediately accepted his mistake. My own view is that the coach wanted Sehwag to score more runs and when the batsman had got out he could not control his anger because of which he had got hold of Sehwag's collar and pushed him.

"I knew that Wright had affection for Sehwag and had reacted to his getting out like a guru reacting to the failure of a disciple. He always used to urge Sehwag not to lift the ball because he often lost his wicket that way," he said.

An angry Ganguly was demanding that Wright should apologise to the entire team, recalls Shukla, adding that the coach's action had placed him in an acute dilemma.

Shukla immediately consulted Sachin Tendulkar and the team's media manager, Amrit Mathur. "The advice I got was that in case Wright apologised to the whole team, his authority will be eroded. I thought this was a valid point," he said.

"I persuaded Sehwag not to seek apology from the coach in front of the entire team. Wright was also persuaded to speak to Sehwag and assuage his feelings when the team returned to the hotel. Both agreed to this. Wright spoke to Sehwag and admitted his mistake," Shukla said.

This is how a potentially explosive situation was resolved and it did not become public despite the presence of scores of Indian and British journalists.

Thereafter, relations between the swashbuckling opener and Wright remained "cordial and nice", according to Shukla.

In the book, Wright had said he lost his cool after Sehwag had got out in a reckless manner and decided to "sort out" the matter with the batsman.

"I had enough of players trotting out the 'natural game' line as an excuse for failing to take responsibility and disregarding the match situation.

"When Sehwag wandered in, I decided it was time for a sort-out. Not realising that my exasperation levels had soared into the red zone, I went up to him, grabbed him by the collar and barked.

'What the hell's going on? How can you come back in here after playing a shot like that and unbuckle your pads as if nothing's happened. Everyone froze --- it was like someone had pulled out a gun -- and I turned on my heel and stomped out," Wright says.