Sourav Ganguly reveals an interesting anecdote regarding the 2001 Kolkata Test win against Australia

Kolkata Test victory ended Australia's wiining streak of 16 straight Test wins under Steve Waugh.

Kolkata Test win changed the face of  Indian cricket, feels Ganguly. (AFP)

Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly recently launched his autobiography named " A Century Is Not Enough". Ganguly led India to one of the all-time memorable victories in the history of Test cricket in Kolkata. 

Coming back from behind, India went on to win the Kolkata Test against Australia by 171 runs. Interestingly when everyone counted out the possibility of an Indian win, Sourav's mother in law predicted an Indian win. This is one of the unknown facts about Ganguly which he revealed in his autobiography. 

“Australia scored 445 runs. In reply, we got 171 all out. I thought ‘gone’. Test match gone. Test series gone. And captaincy gone as well. I remember at the end of Day 3, after Australia had enforced the follow on, my mother-in-law came to the team hotel. She had brought some home food and we were having a chat in the room about everything but cricket, and she suddenly said, “Sourav, you will win this game.” That’s the thing with mothers-in-law — they always say the wrong thing at the wrong time (laughs),” Ganguly tells Open magazine in an interview while promoting his memoir ‘A Century Is Not Enough’. 

“Back then, I didn’t see the funny side of it, so immediately after she left, I called my wife and said, “Why does your mother do this all the time?” She calmed me down and asked me to forget the whole incident. Two days later, we had pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in a Test match ever, and of course, my mother-in-law never lets me forget her words.”

Going into the Eden Test, Australia had won 16 Tests, the first of the series in Mumbai, in a row and were on the verge of winning a series in India, which Waugh famously called the ‘final frontier’.

“After the game, I had invited the team home for dinner. I live in Behala (in Kolkata) and my in-laws’ house is next door — house 16 and house 17, right next to each other. As we entered, she was standing in the balcony with a big smile on her face, telling every player as they passed, “I told Sourav this would happen two days ago.” I honestly don’t know what she was thinking on Day 3, because none of us, apart from VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid, was thinking that.”

"That series changed me as well, both as a person and a captain. I would say it was the point when Indian cricket changed, this time for the better,” concluded Ganguly. 
 

 
 

By Anshuman Roy - 01 Mar, 2018

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