Can't Blame Chappell Alone, Everyone Was Involved: Sourav Ganguly Drops Bombshell As He Reveals He Dreamt Of Winning 2007 WC As Captain
Published - 10 Jul 2020, 11:59 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:31 AM
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly enjoyed an illustrious international career. The legendary cricketer is one of the most decorated skippers in the history of Indian cricket and is one of the all-time ODI greats. But his illustrious career was marred by his infamous rift with former Team India coach Greg Chappell which pretty much derailed his career.
In 2005, Sourav Ganguly was dropped from the team and was removed as the captain too despite doing a stunning job as the captain. He later returned to the team but did not get his captaincy back. The former India captain recently opened up on phase and said that it was the ‘biggest setback’ of his career.
Terming his sacking as ‘absolute injustice’, Sourav Ganguly told Bengali newspaper Sangbad Pratidin about his feelings at the time.
“That was the biggest setback of my career. It was an absolute injustice. I know you can’t get justice all the time but even then that treatment could have been avoided. I was the captain of the team which had just won in Zimbabwe and I get sacked after returning home?
“I dreamt of winning the 2007 World Cup for India. We had lost in the final the previous time. I had reasons to dream too. The team had played so well under me for the last five years whether it was home or away. Then you suddenly drop me? First, you say I’m not in the ODI side, then you drop me from the Test team too,” Sourav Ganguly said.
The former India opener added that he had no doubt that it all started when then India head coach Greg Chappell had sent out an email to the BCCI against him, which had got ‘leaked’.
“I don’t want to blame Greg Chappell alone. There is no doubt about the fact that he was the one who started it. He suddenly sends an email against me to the board which gets leaked too. Does something like this happen? A cricket team is like a family. There can differences of opinion, misunderstandings in the family but that should be sorted out with dialogue. You are the coach, if you believed that I should play in a certain manner then come and tell me. When I returned as a player he had specified the same things then why not earlier?,” said the former cricketer.
Sourav Ganguly, who is currently the BCCI President, further refused to blame Chappell alone, saying that it is not possible to sack an Indian captain without the backing of the entire system.
“The others are not innocent either. A foreign coach who doesn’t have any say in the selection cannot drop an Indian captain. I had understood that this is not possible without the support of the entire system. Everyone was involved in the scheme to drop me. But I didn’t crumble under pressure. I didn’t lose confidence in me,” he said.
Sourav Ganguly announced his retirement after a playing a Test match against Australia in Nagpur in 2008. He scored 11363 runs in 311 ODIs with 22 hundreds to his name. He scored 7212 runs in 113 Test at an average of 42.17 and with 16 centuries.
