Kolkata: Former India Captain Sourav Ganguly on Friday said that he still regrets taking off his shirt at the Lords balcony.
“I would never do it again. I love the honours board at Lord’s more — which has my name,” said Ganguly after 15 years of that famous Natwest Trophy win at the Lords.
The former captain also revealed why he called it quits from international cricket in 2008.
“I retired because at some point you’ve had enough. The reason is not because you have had enough of playing the sport but because you’ve had enough of getting selected all the time. Dropped/selected that’s part and parcel of sport,” said Ganguly at the India Today Conclave East 2017.
Ganguly, one of India’s most successful Test captains, was sacked from his leadership role in October 2005 and later eased out of both the Test and one-day squads following a row with coach Chappell.
Chappell had described Ganguly as a “disruptive influence” in an email to the Board of Control for Cricket In India (BCCI) which was leaked to the media.
Ganguly said the Chappell incident was an eye-opener for him and made him a better person.
“The Greg Chappell incident was an eye-opener for me. It made me a better person. Before that, from 1995-2006, the graph was only up. I never missed a series, I was captain of India for six years. The world was at my feet till 2006.
“Not many captains in the world would go from not being captain to not even being in the side,” Ganguly said.
Citing the example of how current skipper Virat Kohli treats predecessor MS Dhoni, Ganguly said during that period he used to train the hardest and quoted an anecdote Pakistan’s only World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan had told him once.
“You look at Dhoni. He is not the captain of the team but look at the way Virat Kohli looks after him and they go about their job.
“During that period, Imran (Khan) told me in Lahore that when you fly high and you see dark clouds you find a way to fly higher. I did not know the reason, I was not being picked. I was scoring heavily. Then when I made a comeback and retired in 2009, Sachin came up to me and said this is the best I have seen you bat in your career. I worked my hardest during that period,” Ganguly said.