Sabyasachi Bagchi, Balurghat: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly was bowled over to see his own statue in Balurghat today. The 8 ft tall bronze statue was unveiled by Sourav himself in the presence of thousands of fans at the Bikash Maidan in Balurghat. This was perhaps the first instance where a statue of a living cricketer was unveiled.
The statue made by sculptor Sushanta Pal shows Ganguly raising his bat after hitting his first test century in Brisbane, back in 2003. The Cricket Association of Bengal President was seen taking a selfie in front of the statue. He later tweeted, “Looks like me.”
The Prince of Kolkata reached Malda today morning. After resting at a Guest House, Sourav headed to Gangarampur to attend a function. Later he headed straight to the Bikash Maidan, the venue of the main programme.
Talking to xtratime.in Sourav shared his experiences about the train journey last night.
“After 2001 I did a train journey. It’s been almost after 15 years. It was good fun giving adda the whole night with my friends,” said Sourav.
Thousands of fans were anxiously waiting from early morning to have a glimpse of Dada, who arrived at the venue around 11:15pm. The former India captain was surprised to see his popularity even after retiring from international cricket almost 9 years back. In another tweet, Sourav said, “At Dakshin Dinajpur, just human heads.”
As many as forty local clubs felicitated Sourav along with local Municipal authorities. In his short speech, the CAB President reiterated the need for developing the game in the districts.
According to Sourav, “We have given a lot of emphasis in developing the game across the districts. The association has made different arrangements about coaching programme. We have organised bowling machines, ensured every DSA has a good batting strips and so on.”
There was some uncertainty last night as to where the statue will be kept. Sourav somewhat in good humour said, “If anyone has a problem in installing the statue, I can take back home in Behala.”
The statue could not be installed as the local organisers , i.e., the Dakshin Dinajpur DSA did not take the neccessary permission from the District Magistrate in time. It is learnt that there is a political angle behind as the State Sports Minister might be behind it.
According to Gautam Goswami, the secretary of the DSA, “We have taken all the necessary permission to install the statue and accordingly created a platform near the entrance of the stadium. But unfortunately we were not allowed to install it.”
Later in the evening the CAB President was supposed to attend a meeting of the District Sports Federation, but later the meeting was cancelled. As of now, there is a wax statue of Ganguly at the Mother’s Wax Museum at Rajarhat in Calcutta. So, this is the second statue of the “Prince of Kolkata” in the state.