'He was devastated' - Arun Lal reveals an incident that made Sourav Ganguly more successful

Sourav Ganguly is one of the world’s most reputed cricketers. The moment where he took off his T-shirt to celebrate a series win at Lord’s remains as one of the most iconic moments for all cricket fans. He was one of India’s most dynamic captains and is known for giving birth to players like Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, etc.

In an interview, former Indian cricketer, Arun Lal recalled the moment which he believes made Ganguly the cricketer he is now known as. Lal remembered the incident when despite hitting a century at Lord’s on his Test debut, the Prince of Kolkata had to wait for four years to make a comeback into the Indian team.

“Sourav was gutted, devastated but when you look back and even at that time I said that if he wasn’t dropped from Indian cricket at that stage, he wouldn’t have become what he has now,” Lal told Sportskeeda. He believed that this incident played a turning point in Ganguly’s career.

“Because a couple of years out of the team gave him time to mature, to understand and recollect himself and come back strong. And so you have Sourav Ganguly the captain and Sourav Ganguly now heading the BCCI,” Lal added. Ganguly made a strong comeback and went on to become one of the greatest captains in world cricket.

I have always been a fan of Sourav: Arun Lal

Lal recalled watching Ganguly bat for the first time in an exhibition match where the Bengal Tiger hit sixes at will at the age of 16. “I have always been a fan of Sourav. Like Tendulkar, Sourav was special. I remember watching Sourav play an exhibition match at CCFC in Kolkata. This young kid hit about 6-7 sixes in that exhibition game,” he said.

Arun Lal concluded that just like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly was born to play cricket. Ganguly is currently the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. After being lauded for some of the initiatives during his early days into the job, Ganguly is under pressure at the moment to host the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year. The Indian board will suffer losses worth Rs 4,000 crore if the IPL is not held this year.