Former Indian skipper, Sourav Ganguly got the captaincy of Team India when the Indian cricketer had suffered the huge blow of match-fixing scandal in 2000. He then went on to change the image of the sport in the country for good. Ganguly has now be recognized as one of the most successful Indian captains to have played the sport, leading India to Champions Trophy glory in 2002 and World Cup final in 2003. Under Sourav Ganguly, India dominated the oppositions on quite a few occasions and clinched some memorable victories.
However, Ganguly’s route to India captaincy was full of surprises. Talking about the some, former selector Ashok Malhotra asserted that he was apprehensive about appointing Ganguly as the vice-captain to Sachin Tendulkar, according to him, it took a bit of effort to get the Bengal batsman into the leadership role.
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During a recent Facebook live with Sportskeeda, Malhotra said, “If I remember correctly, picking Sourav Ganguly as vice-captain was a tougher job. I remember we picked him in Calcutta and the coach had some things to say – drinks too much Coke, takes singles but not twos, etc. In the bargain, I said having a Thumbs Up does not disqualify him as vice-captain. And then we had quite a big discussion. 3-2 was voted in favor of Sourav as vice-captain.”
He further elaborated, “But then, I won’t name the President, but he walked into the selection, which has never ever happened in the history of the BCCI. And he and the Chairman told us, ‘Gentlemen, let’s do some rethinking’. Two of us still stuck to our guns, but one selector said, ‘No, the President has said it so I will go with him.’ So we didn’t make him vice-captain then but later on, we managed to (make him).”
Malhotra also said Anil Kumble and Ajay Jadeja were the frontrunners to lead the Indian team when they were looking for a successor of Sachin Tendulkar.
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Malhotra revealed, “None of us knew Sourav Ganguly would become the captain because Sachin was the captain then. But once he resigned, we had to convince everyone to make him captain because Anil Kumble and Ajay Jadeja were in line. I had to work overtime.”
