First and foremost, I’d want to wish Sourav Ganguly, who is 51 today, a very happy birthday. Ganguly, affectionately known as ‘Dada’ by teammates and fans, hit many runs for India while also winning numerous major tournaments and series as captain. During his playing career, he was involved in a number of scandals. Even today, he is embroiled in a few disputes. Let’s take a look at some of the most important ones in his life right now.
While ‘Dada’ played cricket with zeal, scoring tonnes of runs and leading India to numerous championships, he was also a fiery personality who could not be bullied. You’ve probably heard the tale of how he made Steve Waugh wait for the toss during a Test match. Waugh believes Ganguly did it on purpose to get a psychological advantage over the Australians. That was Ganguly, who was unconcerned about disputes. Look through this collection for more.Â
In the IPL, Sourav Ganguly and Shane Warne clashed about the validity of a catch. Ganguly requested the third umpire to recheck the catch, which irritated Warne, the captain of the Rajasthan Royals. They got into a furious argument before being separated by the umpires and teammates.
When India won the Natwest Trophy final at Lord’s in 2002, skipper Ganguly didn’t mind breaching convention by stripping off his jersey and waving it enthusiastically on the ancient balcony of the legendary cricket venue. The MCC members were not pleased with Ganguly’s performance, but he didn’t care.
Ganguly made a comeback after a fight with Greg and eventually lost his spot in the team. Years after his retirement, he made an unexpected remark about Rahul Dravid. He said that Dravid did nothing to help him in the Chappell issue. Dravid retorted, stating Ganguly had never sought him to seek a solution.
In 2005, Greg Chappell arrived to permanently alter Indian cricket. In the end, he did nothing but do harm. One of the causes was the hostile climate in the locker room since most of the players had turned on Chappell. It all started with an argument in Zimbabwe between him and then-captain Ganguly. It also resulted in Ganguly losing his captaincy and his spot in the team for a short time. The biggest blow was India’s elimination from the 2007 ODI World Cup in the West Indies.Â
We witnessed how heated the situation was between Sourav Ganguly and then-captain Virat Kohli during his term as BCCI president. The Delhi-born, hot-headed Kohli informed the press that he was not asked to stand down as T20 captain by anyone at the BCCI. This comment by Kohli cast a negative light on Ganguly, who had previously stated that he had done so. Ganguly and Kohli did not shake hands at the IPL 2023, fueling speculation about their rumored feud.Â
