Sachin Tendulkar Shares A Hilarious Prank Played On Sourav Ganguly On His 50th Birthday

Legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar recalled a funny moment from his early days of playing cricket, where he pranked teammate Sourav Ganguly.

As the current BCCI president and former Indian skipper turned 50 on Friday (July 8), fans, friends, former teammates and opponents poured their wishes for the ‘Prince of Kolkata’.

We filled Sourav Ganguly’s room with water: Sachin Tendulkar

Tendulkar, who played with and against Ganguly since their U-15 days, knows him in various forms – a notorious kid, a player, a captain, and now an administrator. Fans of the game would be aware of plentiful match-winning stands between Tendulkar and Ganguly on the field. But very few would know their hilarious acts behind the screens.

Tendulkar, who holds the most runs in international cricket (3,4357 runs from 664 games), went down memory lane and fondly remembered going on his first overseas tour to the United Kingdom with Star Cricket Club. Ganguly, Jatin Paranjpe and Kedar Godbole were also part of the team.

“I remember Sourav was sleeping during an afternoon. Jatin Paranjpe, Kedar Godbole and I filled his room with water. He woke up and was naturally clueless about what was happening, his suitcases were floating,” Tendulkar told news agency PTI.

“Finally, he realised it was me, Jatin and Kedar who had done it. Friends keep playing pranks on each other and our childhood was no different.

“We stayed in schools that were like old castles and naturally it looked a bit scary.

“To make things worse, friends would get together and plan to scare the others even more. Years later, when I think back, these are the moments of friendship that stand out and make me smile,” he added.

Sourav Ganguly was a great captain: Sachin Tendulkar

Ganguly led the Indian team in 49 Tests and 146 ODI matches from 2000 to 2005, his era is deemed as a transition phase of Indian cricket. Ganguly remains to be the only Indian captain to win a Test series in Pakistan in 2003-04.

Ganguly’s other prominent achievements as India captain are the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2000/01 in India and the 2002 NatWest (tri-nation) series against England and Sri Lanka.

Tendulkar mentioned how Ganguly backed and groomed world-class players during his captaincy tenure and struck the balance in the team.

“Sourav was a great captain. He knew how to maintain a balance – between giving freedom to the players and giving them certain responsibilities. When he took over, Indian cricket was in a transition phase.

“We needed the next bunch of players who could set a platform for propelling India forward,” Tendulkar mentioned.

“At that time, we found top-class players – Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, and Ashish Nehra to name a few. They were gifted players, but even gifted players need support at the start of their careers, which Sourav provided,” he added.

Ganguly retired from international cricket in 2008 after representing India in 113 Tests and 311 ODIs and finished his illustrious career with not only 18,575 runs in the two formats but also left with numerous memories of the game.

Also Read: IND vs ENG: ‘Don’t Know How India Lost That Game’: Sourav Ganguly On Edgbaston Test