Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly reveals his toughest decision as a captain

Kolkata’s favourite son, Sourav Ganguly, is one of the best captain India has ever had. He brought in an aggressive and fearless attitude into the dressing room and showed the team that they can win anywhere. He thoroughly supported his teammates and allowed them to express themselves out in the middle. Ganguly also had the highest number of Test wins(21) as the Indian captain before MS Dhoni‘s boys bettered it.

Post his retirement in 2008, Ganguly has been quite active in the cricket administrative posts and is contributing his best to the game. Also, he is sharing a lot of stories from the past and reliving those old memories in the minds of the fans. In a recent interview, Ganguly revealed his toughest decision he had to make as the Indian teams’ captain.

Leaving Anil Kumble out was tough

Any Indian cricket fan will perhaps never forget the afternoon in Johannesburg in 2003. The Indian team was on a dream run in the 2003 World Cup. It was one of their best ever chances to lift the glorious trophy. They took on a star-studded Australian team in the finals of the tournament. Just before the game begun, a shocking decision by Ganguly left many fans bewildered.

India decided to omit their star spinner Anil Kumble from the playing XI, a decision that still haunts many fans. The team conceded the title to Australia and failed to reach the expectations. Even after that finals, Kumble had to make way for Harbhajan Singh in the playing XI many a time. And now, the then India captain, Ganguly, admits that dropping Kumble from the playing eleven was always the toughest decision in his stint as captain.

“Leaving out Kumble from the first eleven (has to be the toughest decision). He was such a great player and such a great performer, so to take the decision of leaving him out was the toughest decision,” Ganguly told Sportstar during an exclusive chat. It seems that Ganguly also shared many other interesting details with the magazine. The magazine will be out in stores from March 9.

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