Sourav Ganguly’s autobiography ‘A Century is Not Enough’, which is co-authored by him and senior journalist Gautam Bhattacharya, has created waves around the country since its release. In his autobiography, Sourav Ganguly has touched upon many issues and personalities, and Anil Kumble and John Buchanan are two of them.

In an interview with Sportstar, Ganguly talked about leaving Anil Kumble out of the playing XI and said that it was the toughest task he ever performed as captain. Ganguly was talking of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe; where Anil Kumble played just one match in the tournament, against Pakistan; as Harbhajan Singh was preferred over him.

Kumble was also overlooked for the final, which India tamely conceded to Australia, who won their third title and started a decade of dominance in world cricket.

“Leaving out Kumble from the first eleven (has to be the toughest decision). He was such a great player and such a great performer, so to take the decision of leaving him out was the toughest decision,” Ganguly said.

“Cricket is still a captain’s game. Captain has to be the main man,” he says.

John Buchanan was Kolkata Knight Riders’ coach during the initial years of IPL and Sourav Ganguly captained the KKR unit in the first year of IPL. However, in the second season of IPL in 2009, held in South Africa, John Buchanan introduced the ‘multiple captaincy' theory. This led to Ganguly losing his captaincy.

“The multiple captaincy theory came in as a surprise. That is something many of us did not have a clue of. I think the theory was a bit of surprise for all of us, but then, that’s the way it is,” Ganguly says.

Former KKR and India captain said, “There are a certain things you embrace and there are a certain things that you have to keep it for the first time.”