Sourav Ganguly Reveals Why his Team Struggled in Terms of Mental Battles

Jul 11, 2019 at 11:51 AM

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Sourav Ganguly Reveals Why his Team Struggled in Terms of Mental Battles

Former Team India skipper Sourav Ganguly had a good track record as a leader. Under his leadership, India has done exceptionally well to make things pretty difficult for the top-notch teams. In 146 ODI matches, Ganguly led India to 76 victories. But, at the same time, he had to face 65 losses with five ending on a no-result.

Ganguly, who’s fondly known as ‘Dada’, is the part of ICC’s commentary panel in the United Kingdom (UK).

During his playing heydays, Ganguly had set an example by leading his team from the front.

The prominent batsman had played sublime innings to win games for India.

In his recent interview, Ganguly jokingly maintained India had struggled when it came to the mental battles on the field. So much so, Ganguly reiterated that they had ‘too many gentlemen’ in the side during his tenure.

Also, he admitted the fact that it also became an arduous task for him to convince his teammates in a bid to sledge the oppositions.

Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly
Twitter

Sourav Ganguly on mental battles:

In a conversation with VVS Laxman, during the India-New Zealand semi-final at the Old Trafford in Manchester, Ganguly also revealed how Rahul Dravid had denied his suggestion regarding suggestion.

“It was very hard with that team, because we had too many gentlemen. If you ask Rahul Dravid to do that, he’ll come back and say ‘No no no that’s not the right way to play,’” Ganguly said on air.

While speaking for the broadcasting giant Star Sports, Ganguly also revealed VVS Laxman had said no to him when it came to sledging the opponents. He further added, the middle order batsman maintained, his focus is on batting.

Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Gary Kirsten
Photo Credit: Getty Images.

Also, while narrating the incident of legendary Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly asserted that the Mumbaikar used to convey the message to mid-wicket fielder to sledge a star player like Steve Waugh back in those days.

“You ask VVS Laxman to do that, he’ll say ‘I’m concentrating on my batting.’ And if you tell Sachin (Tendulkar) to do it, he will stand at mid-on and tell the mid-wicket fielder to sledge Steve Waugh, and himself not do it,” Ganguly added while wearing a smile on his face alongside Laxman.

The Kolkata-based star Ganguly also cited Harbhajan Singh has backed his plans to perfection.

“There were a lot of issues in that team. The only ones holding the Indian flag were Harbhajan Singh and Sourav Ganguly. Sardarji did everything I told him to do,” Ganguly concluded.

The 47-year-old veteran Ganguly has represented India between 1992 and 2008. He has featured in 311 ODIs, 113 Tests for Team India. Across formats, he has accumulated 18,575 runs.

Besides, he has 22 ODIs tons and 16 Test hundreds under his belt.

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