Under Sourav Ganguly's firm leadership, Indian cricket reached new heights over a period of five years (2000-2005).

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From qualifying to the finals of 2003 World Cup, sharing the 2002 Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka, winning the 2004 Test series in Pakistan and drawing Test series’ in England and Australia – Team India achieved it all and a lot more with Ganguly at the helm of affairs.

No wonder, the ‘Prince of Kolkata’ was loved by his teammates but there was an instance when his troops played an April Fool's Day prank on him.

Recalling the incident while answering fans' questions in a video interaction for Unacademy, Ganguly on Saturday (May 30) said: "I will always remember this, when I was not getting runs against Pakistan. I was captain of the team so I remember going to the dressing room and it was April Fool's Day. I didn't even remember that it was April Fool's Day and that the players could play a prank on me.

"I was a little disappointed because I wasn't scoring runs. As I entered the dressing room, the team members got together led by Sachin (Tendulkar) and Harbhajan Singh and were saying that they are very disappointed with what I said about the team in the media. I said, what did I say -- I was very sensitive at the time. They said that there were reports in the newspapers that you were not happy with the way the team has played."

Ganguly further said he was so upset with what he heard that he offered to relinquish captaincy of the team right there.

"I said if you guys feel that I will get upset about (the team not playing well) and I did something wrong, I am ready to resign today and I am ready for somebody else to take the captaincy. I said that and went and sat on my chair. Couple of minutes went away and I saw everybody jumping with laughter."

Ganguly revealed that it was Harbhajan who finally broke the act.

"I was really upset then and a little bit shocked at what I had just heard from the team. And then Harbhajan jumped up and said April Fool."

The 47-year-old also said the incident worked well for him as he went on to regain his form with the bat.

"That I think worked well for me because I went and played well in the series. It just showed me how much my players cared. I wasn't scoring runs and they wanted me to feel good and believe that they will be there for me in my difficult times. It really opened me up," he concluded.

(With IANS inputs)