Former Sri Lanka all-rounder Russel Arnold went on to recall his infamous banter with former Indian skipper, Sourav Ganguly, saying the ‘good banter’ was overblown in the following years. A simple search on a video-streaming platform can lead us to the episode from the 2002 Champions Trophy final in Colombo wherein Ganguly can be seen having a go at Russel for walking on the danger area of the pitch.
Ganguly and the then India wicketkeeper-batsman, Rahul Dravid was be seen telling off Arnold after Sri Lanka batted first on a spinner-friendly wicket. The final didn’t witness a result as rain played spoilsport even on the reserve day and India and Sri Lanka went on to share the Champions Trophy in 2002. Sri Lanka made 200-plus totals on both the days before wet weather interrupted play.
ALSO READ: Gambhir Reveals When Dhoni Lost His Calm During World Cup
Speaking to R Ashwin in the India off-spinner’s latest episode of Reminisce with Ash on Instagram, Arnold said it’s a bit easy to turn the heat for Ganguly.
Arnold recalled, “It was the 2002 Champions Trophy. I remember I had played a delicate late cut and then took 2-3 steps down the wicket. Okay, I can be honest now. I took 2-3 steps down. Sourav Ganguly came up immediately and made some noise, confronted me. Nothing happened. Then Rahul Dravid told me ‘Russ, don’t run on the (danger area) of the pitch’. It was just banter.”
He further added, “When we are playing with Sourav… he is a fierce competitor. It’s also a bit easy to wind him up. He always has replied. It was good banter. Nothing more than that. It’s all in the game. It was all in the game. It was all in good spirits. I really think it was overblown. It was just 3 steps… 3 strides.”
Meanwhile, Russel Arnold also reminisced MS Dhoni’s knock of 183 against Sri Lanka in 2005 in Jaipur, saying the Ranchi gloveman gave first signs of his threat to the world on that day. Dhoni’s promotion to No. 3 caught Sri Lanka off guard as they failed to defend a big total of 299.
Arnold explained, “I didn’t know MS Dhoni much before this series.MS Dhoni, down the order, big hitter… that’s what we know. But in this series, we came to know about his exceptional skills, his mentality, and the potential danger he could cause. We knew he had the ability. But some players tend to perform just one day and vanish. When you repeat, people take notice of the players.”
ALSO READ: Shakib Al Hasan reveals learnings after being Banned by ICC
He further added, “MS Dhoni came at No.3. India was chasing a big score. We thought MS Dhoni had to score something like he scored against Pakistan to chase this down. India had lost Sachin Tendulkar early as well. When Dhoni came in at No. 3, all our plans went out of place a little. We tried but we found it tough to control Dhoni’s power.”
