Sourav Ganguly recounts the time he was held at gunpoint in England

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly has left behind a legacy that has seen him become of the best Indian skippers there ever was. However, as in the case of any international cricketer, Ganguly has also had his fair share of downs, one of which came on his first tour of England all those years ago in 1995.

It was the tour that cemented Ganguly’s position as a world class batsman wherein he smashed his first of 16 Test match centuries. However, while traveling in the Underground tube, Ganguly went on to recount the time he was held at gunpoint by a few teenagers along with fellow Indian batsman Navjot Singh Sidhu.

In the book, Beefy’s Cricket Tales in the chapter “Troubles in England”, Ganguly recounted exactly what transpired in that fateful train ride. “I will almost always drive myself around when I’m in England now, after one of the most terrifying moments of my life traveling on the London Underground,” he wrote. “We got on the tube and set off towards Pinner.

“In our carriage, there was a group of young teenagers, two boys, and three girls, and they were drinking. We were sitting opposite them and I could see that one of them was looking at us while he was drinking his beer.”

“I could tell he was looking for some kind of reaction. I didn’t want to get involved at all and I said to Sidhu to leave it alone. I picked up the can and put it to one side, at which point the young lad stood up and said to me, ‘what did you say?’

However, Sidhu could not control himself and confronted the teen. “I told him I didn’t say anything, but Sidhu jumped in and confronted him. I knew then that there was going to be some trouble. I took my glasses off and threw them to the floor away from us, and got ready for whatever was to come.”

“There were some punches thrown and, just as we got to a station, I pushed the lad and he fell over. He got up and the next thing I saw was a gun in my face. I, though, My gosh, this is it – my life is going to be over here on this train.”

However, one of the girls, clearly more physically bigger than the lad with the gun came to Ganguly’s rescue. “But then one of the girls, who was quite big, grabbed him and pulled him away and took him off the train. She was really quite strong and I don’t think the young boy wanted to mess with her. I was shaking and obviously very upset, but thankfully my tour and my life were able to continue.“