Team management defends Chappell

Denying that the coach made any obscene gesture to Sourav fans, BCCI said Greg was tending a hurt finger.

Rallying around Greg Chappell, the Indian team management on Saturday denied that the coach had made an obscene gesture to local cricket fans and said he was only attending to an injured finger.

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"I have spoken to Chappell. He told me that while giving fielding practice to the players, he injured a finger. He was only attending to the finger in the team bus," Indian team's Media Manager M Baladitya told newspersons.

A television footage had shown the coach, who had just boarded the team bus, allegedly making a gesture with his finger towards cricket fans, apparently in response to jeers from them after the Indian team's practice session on Thursday.

Chappell has drawn the ire of the local cricket fans, who hold him responsible for former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly's omission from the one-day side.

The local production house, which caught Chappell on its camera, included the video clip in its programme Dus Miniter Khel and also distributed it to other channels.