Flashback: When VVS Laxman tried to stop Sourav Ganguly from removing his short at the Lord's

India’s victory over England in the final of the Natwest series way back in 2002 is still remembered by the cricket fans and is etched in their memory forever. The Men in Blue had famously gunned down the target of 325 runs, the score which was only a dream to score in that era of cricket.  While Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif emerged as heroes from the match, it was the celebration from Sourav Ganguly which topped the headlines the next day. However, the man himself has recalled the memory in his new book ‘A Century is Not Enough.’

Soon after India stole the winning run, Ganguly removed his shirt while standing in the balcony of Lords and celebrated the victory by waving it aggressively. While the celebration was loved by all the fans, some of the cricket experts criticised it terming the actions as over the top after winning the match. The former India captain launched his new book on Thursday in the presence of Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma and recalled a few candid memories of that game.

Why Laxman tried to stop Dada?

During the launch of his book, ‘A Century is Not Enough’, Sourav Ganguly was all smiles after remembering the memorable final at Lords. He recalled the moment when VVS Laxman had tried to stop him from removing his shirt after the famous victory. But Dada didn’t bother and waved off his shirt in celebrations.

“When I took off the t-shirt, one gentleman standing next to me was pulling it down. I think it was VVS Laxman. He was sitting next to me and there was Harbhajan Singh behind me and asking me what to do. I said you take it off too,” recalled the 45-year-old according to Mid-day.

Even Sachin relished the moment and cleared that he was surprised with what was his captain doing in the balcony. “First of all, I thought, what is he doing? He’s in the Lord’s balcony, taking off his t-shirt and you don’t even have six packs,” he said. Rohit Sharma was a teenager at that moment and even he went on to say that they replicated the actions of Ganguly after the victory.

“I was 13 to 14 years old. As soon as he removed his t-shirt, we all removed our t-shirts. We kept doing the same till he stopped. We did chest bumps after that,” Rohit smiled while saying.

Here’s our video of the day:

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