'Wasn't a legend': Ex-Aussie captain's brutal dig at Justin Langer

Former Australian captain Ian Chappell has taken a swipe at Justin Langer after his exit as coach from the Australia side.

After months of speculation about whether Langer would remain as head coach after his contract ended in July, the former Test opener put the saga to bed when he tended his resignation last month.

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It came as Test captain Pat Cummins had been reluctant to publicly back the incumbent coach, instead preferring to put the onus for the decision on Cricket Australia.

Cummins then addressed the situation and said the team needed to find a new style for the future.

Langer reportedly decided to walk away from the job after being offered only a six-month extension of his contract.

His exit comes despite Australia's triumph at the T20 World Cup in 2021, as well as the 4-0 Ashes victory over England earlier this year.

This prompted many of Langer's former teammates including Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Matthew Hayden all slam Cricket Australia's handling of the issue.

However, now Chappell has weighed-in on the situation.

The former captain said he took exception to players calling Langer a 'legend' of the game.

“Why were they saying Langer was a legend? He wasn’t,” Chappell said on The World Wide of Sports' Outside the Ropes show.

“Langer was smart enough to retire on the same day that Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne retired, now they were really good cricketers. Justin Langer wasn’t in their category as far as I was concerned."

“Damien Martyn, in my opinion, was twice as good as Justin Langer.”

Outside the Ropes host Malcolm Conn, who was the former Australian team's communication manager, said he had witnessed Langer's ability to bump heads with the players.

Justin Langer's stats in the Baggy Green

Langer, who formed one of Australia's best opening partnerships with Matthew Hayden, scored 7,696 runs at an average of 45.27 in 105 tests.

In comparison, Martyn scored 4,406 runs at an average of 46.37 in 67 Test matches.

The worst average of the lot was Chappell who scored 5,345 runs at 42.42 in 75 Test matches.

Chappell has been critical of the way Cricket Australia has handled the Langer debacle.

He even questioned whether Australia needed a coach for 2022.

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