One can argue that Sourav Ganguly is India’s greatest-ever captain. Sure, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli outdid him when it came to wins or ICC trophies, but it was he who started the habit of winning both home and away. Under his tenure, many cricketers, including Dhoni, blossomed. Others like Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, and Zaheer Khan, to name a few, helped India win multiple ICC titles.
Ganguly, no longer the captain
When the time came for him to bid cricket adieu, naturally he was emotional. However, unfortunately, by 2008, he was no longer the captain and had even been dropped from the team in years prior. His career was about to come to an end, and just moments before that happened, Dhoni handed the captaincy to Ganguly.
Dhoni’s farewell gift to Dada
The wicketkeeper talked about that incident during a promotion event. Narrating how handing captaincy back to Dada wasn’t a thought-out move and came to him during the field. Ganguly has himself given a version of the story, where he claimed that he refused Dhoni’s offer because he’d switched off by then but was convinced by Dhoni knowing that India would win irrespective of who leads the side against Australia in Nagpur.
“Being one of the greatest captains that India has ever produced, what better farewell can you give from your side? Last day (of his career), he is standing on a Test match field, playing the game. If he can say ‘goodbye’ leading for a while, then why not? It doesn’t really change the result of the game. That was the reason behind it.” Dhoni said.
“I don’t know whether he enjoyed it or not because it came all of a sudden. It wasn’t planned, like ‘this is what you should do’. I thought this was the best way for him to say farewell, leading on the field. Even if it is for 15-20 minutes, why not?” Dhoni concluded.
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