Former Indian chief selector Chandu Borde has shed light on how Sourav Ganguly was elected as the Indian skipper and why Sachin Tendulkar wanted to step down. Sourav Ganguly was first appointed as the Indian captain back in 2000 when team India was going through a transition and were getting beaten more often than not.
Team India faced a thrashing by the hands of Australia in the prior series in which Sachin Tendulkar led the team. There was constant criticism of the little master that he could not live up to the expectations and failed to earn victories and lead the team to victories at home or away from home.
All these factors and Sachin Tendulkar’s own unwillingness led the Indian selectors to replace Tendulkar with Ganguly and now the chief selector, Chandu Borde has revealed the entire story behind Ganguly’s appointment.
Chandu Borde Sheds Light On Ganguly’s Appointment And Sachin Tendulkar’s Removal From Indian Captaincy
“See, if you remember, Sachin, we had sent him as a captain to Australia, and he led the side there, but when he came back, he didn’t want to continue,” Borde told SportsKeeda. “He said, ‘No, I want to concentrate on my batting.’ Therefore, I tried to convince him to lead the side for a long time because we were on the lookout for a new captain, a new generation.”
“But he said, ‘I want to concentrate on my batting because I could not get the performance that I wanted to put in for the team.’ And this is what happened,” Borde added. “So, in fact, some of my colleagues were annoyed with me. They said, ‘Why are you insisting him to continue all the time!’ I said we are looking forward to the future, but then in the end we had selected Ganguly.”
Sourav Ganguly Brought A Revolution In Indian Captaincy
Although Sourav Ganguly could not lead team India to an ICC title or help them achieve the first position in the ICC Test Team Rankings, there can be no denying the fact that Sourav Ganguly brought a revolution in Indian captaincy. He reposed faith in young players and they eventually went on to pay the price in the latter stages of their career.
During his tenure, Sourav Ganguly has led Team India in 146 ODIs and 49 Tests, out of which the team emerged victorious on 76 and 21 occasions respectively. A major turnaround came in world cricket when team India announced their domination by winning the Natwest Trophy in England back in the year 2002. The Ganguly-led India beat Nasser Hussain’s England in the final in a nail-biting encounter.