In the wake of the match-fixing incident in 2000, which was arguably the darkest chapter in Indian cricket history, Sourav Ganguly was named the team's new captain. However, Ganguly rose to prominence as one of the country's finest captains, leading the team to a number of illustrious victories.
The ‘Men in Blue’ started playing an aggressive style of cricket under the southpaw’s leadership. That aggressive approach did wonders as the team in the 2001 home series defeated Australia who were coming off a 15 Test win streak. A year later, Ganguly lifted the Natwest Trophy and a year later, his team emerged as the runners-up of the 2003 World Cup.
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However, the flamboyant batter experienced a major setback in 2005 when Greg Chappell, the newly appointed head coach, fired him from the Indian squad as a result of his poor form with the bat. The batter was out for nearly six months. In an interview with The Telegraph, Ganguly opened up about his time away from the team.
On Chappell's appointment as India head coach which was a result of Ganguly approaching the former Australian batter, he said it wasn't a mistake, “This is an after-thought. When you appoint someone, you appoint someone. Then if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. That’s the way life is. So I don’t consider it a mistake."
“I don’t think playing domestic cricket was tough but the entire situation was tough because it was something beyond my batting and bowling capabilities,” he said.
The current BCCI president stated that those months when he was not in the team served as a break after playing for the nation for 13 years.
“So I couldn’t control that. I played for India for 13 years without a break before that. I hadn’t missed anything, not a series or tour. I hadn’t taken any rest like a lot of the players do now. So I consider those 4-6 months as a break from my career after those 13 years in an overall career of 17 years at the international level.” he stated.
Despite being "angry and frustrated" the entire time he was away from the team, Ganguly claimed he had to "make a point." He also denied thinking about taking sleeping pills back then.
“No, this is not true. But yes I used to get angry and frustrated but worked doubly hard. I was determined to prove myself, to make a point. I knew I had a lot of cricket left in me then. I convinced myself I would prove myself to the men who matter," said the former cricketer.
Sourav Ganguly represented his country in 113 Tests and 311 ODIs, scoring 7212 and 11,363 runs respectively. He was also more than handy bowler, having 132 wickets to his name across the two formats.
(THE TELEGRAPH INPUTS)
