Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly recalled an incident from his captaincy days, when he fought against the BCCI board members to secure a place for premier spinner Anil Kumble during the Australia tour.
Sourav Ganguly is often cited as one of the strongest characters in the history of Indian men’s cricket. He was known for his determination, his determination and his sharp captaincy skills. Ganguly has excelled in every field related to cricket, be it captaining India or being the President of BCCI.
If MS Dhoni was known as the most successful Indian captain in terms of number of ICC trophies won for India, Sourav Ganguly was the silent architect of building a perfect Indian team. The ‘Grandfather’ of Indian cricket once picked almost every stalwart of the game for India and paved the way for unprecedented success during his captaincy in the early 2000s.
Sourav Ganguly recalls fights with BCCI selectors during his captaincy days
Sourav Ganguly recently appeared on the show ‘The Captain’s Calm’ hosted by Harsha Bhogle and made a big revelation on the conditional fight with the BCCI selectors. He mentioned that the fight was over the selection of veteran Indian spinner Anil Kumble for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia in 2003.
Ganguly fought in favor of specialist spinners, while the Indian selectors looked forward to a phase of change where they envisioned a team without Kumble, especially as Harbhajan Singh was gradually gaining prominence with the ball.
Ganguly recalled, “In the 2003 Australia tour, Anil Kumble stood out, and he finished the year with the most wickets. I couldn’t even dream of it (not keeping Anil Kumble in the team), especially on the Australia tour.”
Sourav also recalled that given Daniel Vettori’s success in Australia, he was asked to prefer left-arm spinners; However, despite the great threat to his captaincy, he remained adamant. His efforts bore fruit and Kumble took 24 wickets in three matches.
“And I remember the selectors telling me I needed a left-arm spinner because of how well Daniel Vettori bowled when New Zealand toured us before. He did exceptionally well. But I said, ‘No, I won’t go without him.’
“I still remember that night in Hyderabad after the semi-final. I was told that if the team did not perform well, I would not be able to become captain again. I said, ‘We will see after the series is over’,” Ganguly told Harsha Bhogle on ‘The Captain’s Calm’ powered by Bandhan Bank.
What needs to be done to become a captain? -Sourav Ganguly inspires
In this interview, Ganguly revealed what one has to do in real time to become the captain of the team and how many questions one often has to answer. Sourav Ganguly’s saga as India captain began with a successful tour of Australia and then a victorious Test and ODI tour of Pakistan after 15 years of exile.
“I have been asked this question many times. I remember a journalist asked me, ‘Not many people have come back from Pakistan as captain.’
Sourav Ganguly- the master behind India’s glory
Taking over the captaincy from Sachin Tendulkar in the early 2000s, Sourav Ganguly went from the Prince of Bengal to the “Grandfather” of Indian cricket. He not only led the Indian team by example, winning series against Australia and Pakistan or defeating England in England, but also built a solid team by selecting players from all over India.
It was during his reign that India got players like VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, MS Dhoni and India’s current chief selector Ajit Agarkar. All of them became the brightest stars of Indian cricket in later years.
Along with this, before being overtaken by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Ganguly was the second highest Indian run scorer in ODIs and was known as a key contributor for India in partnership with the great Sachin Tendulkar. Aggression, determination and dreams made Ganguly one of the most charismatic captains in the history of cricket.
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