XtraTime Web Desk: Sourav Ganguly is one of the greatest captains of all time that Indian cricket ever produced and beside that he was one of the finest left- handed batsmen during his time too. Ganguly led team India was on top when he was suddenly removed from the captaincy in 2005 after Greg Chappell was appointed as the head coach of Indian cricket team. Ganguly helped Chappell to get the coach’s job.
“Losing the (India) captaincy (in 2005) came like a bolt from the blue. You are hurt but you can’t show it because you have to put that behind you and make a comeback. That was a huge learning experience because for nearly a decade, things had only gone up for me. It made me tougher,” Ganguly told to HT.
Ganguly admits backing Chappell was the “biggest mistake” of his career.
“Hiring him was the biggest mistake of my career. I had known a different person from a stint as my batting coach in Australia. I don’t know what led to our relationship breaking down. After the 2007 World Cup, I haven’t interacted with him,” Ganguly expresses that the relationship is beyond repair. “What happened to me shouldn’t happen to anyone. Yes, you will get dropped, but it should never get personal. Every athlete should be judged by what happens in the park.”
Rahul Dravid has never spoke a word about Chappell but, there are not many Indian players who are fond of this Aussie legend. Another Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar also criticised in his autobiography “Playing it My Way.” “There aren’t many cricketers from Chappell’s India team who would compliment the coach, says Ganguly. “Sachin doesn’t have too many good things to say about him, does he? In future, you will find more books that say similar things about him.”
After Ganguly got sacked his friend Rahul Dravid took the charge as a skipper and made a good relation with Chappell but, Ganguly never had a word with him about why he was treated in that way as Ganguly said, “Having been a captain, I understand things could get sensitive. So I let it be.”
In the mean time Sourav Ganguly’s autobiography named “A century is not enough” has come to the market today. Though the former India skipper don’t want to call it an autobiography but the cricket fanatics will get to know a lot regarding the Prince of Kolkata here which they didn’t know before today.