Sourav Ganguly reveals how Harbhajan Singh, Sachin Tendulkar's 'April Fool's prank' almost made him quit India's captaincy

Sourav Ganguly led the Indian side for five years when the team started doing really well at the world stage. Among his cricketing achievements, the fact that he transpired a generation to start looking like a confident team who could become the world beaters, is the highest. During this time between 2000 and 2005, there were many players whom Ganguly handpicked and backed.

However, the former captain has often said that the atmosphere in the dressing room during his time of captaincy was always good. Recently, in an interaction, the current BCCI President opened up about the time when his teammates decided to play a prank on him. The 37-year-old revealed that Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh who were the front runners during the prank.

In the conversation, he explained that he was going through a mentally tough time because he wasn’t getting a lot of runs. During this time, his teammates decided to play an April Fool’s prank on him. They printed fake newspaper printings which suggested that the captain had lashed out at the team’s performance in the media.

Ganguly described the whole situation during this interview. He said that as soon as he entered the dressing room, players started asking him what he had said in the media.

‘Harbhajan jumped up and said April Fool’: Sourav Ganguly

“I was a little disappointed because I wasn’t scoring runs. As I entered the dressing room, the team members got together led by Sachin (Tendulkar) and Harbhajan Singh and were saying that they are very disappointed with what I said about the team in the media.

I said, what did I say — I was very sensitive at the time. They said that there were reports in the newspapers that you were not happy with the way the team has played,” Ganguly said during an interaction for Unacademy, as quoted by Times Now.

At this time, the former captain even decided to resign as the skipper. Ganguly revealed that he had told his team that he would give up captaincy it the claims were true. Afterwards, Ganguly went and sat in the corner when Harbhajan Singh revealed to him that it was only a prank that the team was playing on him.

“I said if you guys feel that I will get upset about (the team not playing well) and I did something wrong, I am ready to resign today and I am ready for somebody else to take the captaincy. I said that and went and sat on my chair. A couple of minutes went away and I saw everybody jumping with laughter. I was really upset then and a little bit shocked at what I had just heard from the team. And then Harbhajan jumped up and said April Fool,” Ganguly recalled.

The former captain further said that the incident made him feel that the team cares for him. He also described this moment as a morale booster for him as he wasn’t scoring runs. He explained how he felt good as the team was supporting him during a bad phase.