Sourav Ganguly is not yet ready to judge his own tenure as the BCCI president but has left it out for the public to assess how he fared. The former India captain was formally elected as the Board President in October 2019 and the majority of his reign has coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Organising international tours, successfully hosting teams and ensuring IPL 2020 and 2021 went ahead despite the Covid-19 challenges would certainly rank among Sourav Ganguly’s biggest achievements as the BCCI president.
Sourav Ganguly Won’t Be Able To Tell His Legacy Himself
Not that it was devoid of any controversy with the alleged fall-out with Virat Kohli recently being at the top of the list. Virat Kohli publicly countered Sourav Ganguly following his sacking as the ODI captain following which reports emerged that the Board President wanted to issue the star batter a show-cause notice.
“What’s my legacy? Well, I won’t be able to tell it now. Let’s see what happens. It is up to you all to judge my legacy, it is what it is. But it has been under tough circumstances due to Covid-19 over the last two years.
“The pandemic has wreaked havoc all over the world and we are fortunate that we could still manage to get a majority of cricket done,” Ganguly said.
Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli have been in cold waters since the latter was unanimously dropped as the One-Day Internationals (ODIs) skipper. Earlier, Virat Kohli had relinquished the T20 captaincy after India’s campaign at the 2021 T20I World Cup in the UAE. He was then replaced by Rohit Sharma’s as India’s full-time white-ball skipper last month.
It all started after Virat Kohli had decided to quit the leadership role in the Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) following the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in United Arab Emirates (UAE). While Sourav Ganguly had suggested that he wanted Virat Kohli to continue, the latter revealed that he was informed about his ODI captaincy snub just over an hour ago.
Virat Kohli stepped down as India’s Test captain after being India’s most successful Test skipper with 40 Test wins out of 68 Tests as captain. Sourav Ganguly had then said that Virat Kohli’s decision to step down as Team India’s Test skipper was a “personal one”. The BCCI President also said the board respects Virat Kohli’s decision.
Virat Kohli’s decision to retire came after India was defeated by South Africa in the Cape Town Test by 7 wickets. The tourists slumped from taking a 1-0 lead to lose the series 2-1.
Sourav Ganguly: Everything Put In Place As VVS Laxman And Rahul Dravid Work Together With Coaches Assisting Them
With Sourav Ganguly at the helm, Rahul Dravid as the head coach of the men’s team and VVS Laxman leading the National Cricket Academy, the former stalwarts have teamed up together only this time in managerial roles to chart the future course of Indian cricket. So naturally, the expectations are high.
“We have put everything in place,” Ganguly said. “Laxman and Rahul work together. There are coaches who work alongside them. The U-19 coaches, too, work with the NCA and some of them are currently with the team in the World Cup. The new NCA facility is being built, the construction will start probably this month. It will take 18 months to finish. Everything has been put in place.”
With Sourav Ganguly’s three-year term as BCCI chief coming to an end later this year around September-October, the former India captain stated that he is not yet in a position to say what legacy he will leave behind.