Revision as of 10:49, 1 March 2018

=2004

Musharraf's advice

Avijit Ghosh, When Musharraf told Ganguly not to indulge in midnight ‘adventures’ in Pak, February 28, 2018: The Times of India

A file photograph of Sourav Ganguly with Pervez Musharraf
From: Avijit Ghosh, When Musharraf told Ganguly not to indulge in midnight ‘adventures’ in Pak, February 28, 2018: The Times of India

A phone call from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf left Sourav Ganguly “mortified” during the historic 2004 tour across the border. “Facing Wasim Akram’s deadly in-cutter was less scary!” writes the former India captain in his forthcoming autobiography, ‘A Century Is Not Enough’.

The backstory of the unlikely call is fascinating. During the tour, the Indian cricket team was lodged in Lahore’s swish Pearl Continental Hotel. Security was at its tightest, almost suffocating. Having wrenched out a thrilling 3-2 victory in the ODI series over the arch rivals, the Indian captain wanted to just escape from the “fortress”.

“Well past midnight I discovered that my friends were making plans to visit the iconic Food Street for kebabs and tandoori dishes. The area is known as Gawalmandi,” says Ganguly in the book co-written with journalist Gautam Bhattacharya.

“I didn’t inform our security officer as I knew he would have stopped me. I had only told our team manager Ratnakar Shetty. I slipped through the backdoor with a cap which covered half my face… I knew it was breaking the rules, but I felt I had to get away from the rifles and tanks,” he writes.

‘President Musharraf was polite, but firm’

To avoid getting recognised, the Indian captain had devised a ploy. “Arey aap Sourav Ganguly ho na?” someone asked excitedly. I said no in a slightly modulated voice. He shook his head and said, ‘I thought as much. Par aap bilkul Sourav jaise dikhte ho.’”

The Kolkata cricketer, who scored 7,212 Test runs (16 centuries) and smashed 11,363 runs (22 tons) in ODIs, goes on to say, “We were about to finish our dinner when someone finally called my bluff. A few yards from where we sat was journalist Rajdeep Sardesai. The moment Rajdeep spotted me, he started shouting, Sourav, Sourav. I knew I was in trouble.”

Soon chaos erupted. “People started coming in from all directions and I got gheraoed-…While I tried to pay the bill and escape, the shopkeeper refused to accept payment. He kept on saying, ‘Bahut achcha. We need someone as aggressive as you to lead Pakistan’.”

There was more adventure in store. “While we were making our way back to the hotel a speeding motorbike chased our car. The biker was asking me to roll down the window. My co-passengers kept telling me not to as they feared he might have a bomb. I, however, did not see any threat and obliged. He stretched out his hand and echoed the shopkeeper in Food Street, ‘I am a big fan of yours. Pakistan needs a leader like you.’ The series loss had hurt the average supporter big time.”

Ganguly arrived at the hotel safely. But the news had reached Musharraf. That’s why he made the phone call. Writes Ganguly, “President Musharraf was polite but firm. He said, ‘Next time you want to go out please inform the security and we will have an entourage with you. But please don’t indulge in adventures’.”

Vis a vis Greg Chappel

The Times of India, Aug 08 2015

Dhritiman Ray

`Dravid told Greg he can't drop a skipper'

It has been a decade since the spat between the then India skipper Sourav Ganguly and coach Greg Chappell broke out in Zimbabwe.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary , who was the team manager on that troubled tour, described the first reactions of Ganguly . “It happened at a training session two days before the first Test (in Bulawayo). The skipper left training midway and returned to the empty dressing room. He came back and threw himself on to a chair, visibly disgusted. I asked him what happened.Pointing at Chappell, who was on the ground overseeing the net session, Ganguly said, `That guy's crazy .' Then he told what Chappell had just said,“ Choudhary said in his speech at Xavier Institute of Social Service.What Chappell told Ganguly that day is history. “I instantly understood what had just happened was explosive,“ the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) president added. “So after pacifying Ganguly , I had a chat with his deputy Rahul Dravid. Then we walked up to the coach to tell him that dropping the skipper was beyond his jurisdiction.“

Ganguly was dropped after that series and Dravid was named captain. Chappell had an unquiet stint as the India coach, which ended with Team India's early exit from the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

2015: Conflict of interest?

The Times of India, Dec 09 2015

Is Ganguly caught in the conflict net?

 With Sanjiv Goenka's consortium bagging the Pune franchise in the IPL auction, questions were raised whether former India captain Sourav Ganguly has got into a conflict of interest situation. Ganguly, a stakeholder in the Indian Spuer League franchise Atletico de Kolkata, is a business partner in the football franchise with Goenka and two other Kolkata-based businessmen Harshavardhan Neotia and Utsav Parekh who form part of the consortium.On the other hand, Ganguly is also a member of the IPL governing council.

The question of how can the business partner of an IPL team owner be a member of the governing council that runs the tournament itself was one that drew the attention of many who attended Tuesday's auction for two new franchises.

“As far as I understand, Sourav Ganguly has no conflict of interest. If he would have been involved with any team (IPL), then it would have been a different case. But I think a lot of people are not understanding what conflict of interest means,“ BCCI president Shashank Manohar said.

After Manohar has come to head BCCI, the board has taken some tough decisions on the conflict of interest issue.For example, national selector Roger Binny had to vacate his chair because his son Stuart was in regular contention for Team India while daughter-inlaw Mayanti was employed with BCCI's official broadcaster Star Sports. In response to questions over Ganguly's role, Manohar said: “Suppose I am a lawyer and I have a client. If that client later at some point gets associated with BCCI, how is it a conflict of interest? It can only be a conflict of interest if someone in his position shows bias. I think this is now being taken to an absurd level.“

Manohar, nevertheless, clarified that this was only his view and if at all there was a complaint over Ganguly's role in more than one capacity, it could always be referred to Justice AP Shah, who was sometime back appointed BCCI ombudsman.