Ahead of a Pakistan match Sourav Ganguly was offered to resign as Team India captain

Apr 30, 2016 at 4:21 PM

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Ahead of a Pakistan match Sourav Ganguly was offered to resign as Team India captain

Sourav Ganguly was once offered to resign from captaincy by his own teammates but later it turned out to be an April Fool prank.

Sourav Ganguly happens to be one of the most successful captains for team India and a talented batsman as well. Though Ganguly was an inspiration for the youngsters in the team, though his teammates were very friendly and jovial with their beloved Captain, though he was not the one to bow down to any challenge and certainly not the one to let people come in the way of his methods; there is one instance when he almost broke down into tears.

The incident occurred when the whole Indian team played a prank on him on the April Fool’s day. It was in Kochi, Team India were playing against bitter rivals Pakistan in 2005.

Ganguly walked straight into the dressing room for a customary team meeting in order to discuss strategies before the opening match of the series. The players were already present when he entered the room. But, Dada didn’t know what was waiting for him, he was stunned to see pin-drop silence upon his entrance.

With totally unaware that he would get a massive shock from his teammates, he was confused. However, the man who was leading the prank was Yuvraj Singh who is still today well known as a prankster in the dressing room. Yuvi was sitting in front and along with the team of angry cricketers shouted – ‘The Prince Of Calcutta’ had made comments on some of the players in the team.

Meanwhile, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, and Virender Sehwag gave two copies of a newspaper page which were fabricated by the players to the team manager, Wing Commander M Baladitya, and one to Sourav himself. Harbhajan and Nehra even included a dramatic twist and stormed out of the room. To make matter look more serious, the sheet of paper given to the team manager was read out.

Shocked by this allegation, repeatedly claiming his innocence, Ganguly even offered to resign from captaincy. He said later in an interview: “I almost had tears in my eyes. These were the same players I had always fought for. I didn’t know why they were suddenly saying all these things.” He even looked pleadingly for some support, but it was just not there. Sourav finally, in desperation, promised he had never made such statements.

And now it came to the climax. Unable to see Sourav’s desperation, Rahul Dravid opened out “it was just an April Fool prank.”

Dada was literally angry as picked up a bat and chased all out of the dressing room. Later he was given another sheet of paper signed by all the team members which stated,”Dada we all love you.”

Such unity is the crux of any sporting team in the world, and Dada, a captain who was loved thoroughly by his teammates, still remembers this not as a day he was fooled by his young subordinates, but as a day he came to know how much his teammates loved him.

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