By Ayanjit Sen

The Chappell-Ganguly dispute began six months ago

India coach Greg Chappell has been censured over comments about former captain Sourav Ganguly.

The Indian board took action after a complaint from Ganguly about an interview with Chappell which appeared in Britain's Guardian newspaper.

He claimed Ganguly wanted to hang onto the captaincy because it was "utterly important to his life and finances".

Board secretary Niranjan Shah told the BBC: "Chappell should not have made such statements."

He continued: "Ganguly was upset most by Chappell's comments that he wanted to cling on to the India captaincy for financial reasons.

"We have written a letter to Chappell asking him to refrain from making such comments in future and to confine his comments to the team and its performance. We expect there will be no repetition."

The dispute between Chappell and Ganguly first surfaced during a tour to Zimbabwe last September.

Ganguly revealed he had been asked to step down as skipper prior to the Test series and an e-mail from Chappell to the Board in which he claimed the player was no longer "physically or mentally fit" to lead the team was later leaked to the Indian media.

They were eventually summoned to a meeting with Board officials in Mumbai when they were told to sort out their differences.

Ganguly was subsequently relieved of the captaincy - the job going to his former deputy Rahul Dravid - and he was left out of the squad for the first Test against England, which began in Nagpur on Wednesday.

The publication of the Guardian interview coincided with the start of the game.

Chappell, a former captain of Australia, claimed he would not have become coach without Ganguly's influence on his behalf.

But he continued: "I'm sure he thought he would be able to run me as he did John (Wright) in the latter part of his time as coach."

Chappell has had a rough ride from some Indian fans

Chappell said they clashed because Ganguly was struggling with the bat and he felt it was best for him to give up the captaincy.

"He was just hanging in there. Modest innings were draining him. He had no energy to give to the team, which was helping neither him nor us.

"It was in his own interest to give himself mind space to work on his batting so that it could be resurrected.

"He was not prepared to do that. What I didn't realise at that stage was how utterly important to his life and finances being captain was," he added.

Ganguly is India's most successful captain in history in terms of the numbers of Tests won and has scored more than 5,000 runs in 88 games at an average of 40.78.

He has also played 279 limited overs internationals and led India to the final of the World Cup in South Africa three years ago.

The 33-year-old recently dismissed suggestions that he should retire from the game and has been publicly backed by another former India skipper, Sunil Gavaskar, is his desire to continue playing.

"There is still some cricket left in Sourav," Gavaskar commented.