He is one of the most controversial cricketers of our times. Revered and rejected in equal measure, he is a former skipper and India’s most successful ever Test captain but now his cricketing career is at the crossroads. Sourav Ganguly finally breaks his silence on CNN-IBN.
Rajdeep Sardesai: It has been six months since you last played for India. Has there been a feeling of disappointment? How have the last six months been for you?
Sourav Ganguly: It has not been too bad. Obviously, when you don’t play for the country as a cricketer, it is disappointing. But you get used to it after sometime. The last Test I played was in Pakistan in February and I haven’t played international cricket since then. But it is just one of those things. I feel disappointed because I miss cricket, the challenge and the genre of playing for the country.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Have you felt isolated and abandoned. Have you felt as if you are facing the world alone?
Sourav Ganguly: Not at all. I have never felt that way. When I came back from Pakistan our domestic season was already over. There were a few One-Day games left, which I played and after that there has been an off-season. However, I have followed the Indian team, I have watched them play in West Indies and England. Moreover, it is not the question of being isolated but this has happened for the first time in the last 11 years where I have missed a series. And West Indies tour was the first tour that have I missed in the last 11 years.
Rajdeep Sardesai: When you see the cricketers play or when you watch them on TV, how do you feel? Especially because you have been a captain of the team barely 12 months ago and now you are not even in the team. There must be a sense of despondency.
Sourav Ganguly: I miss cricket. Actually it is your own personal belief whether you deserve to be there or not at the end of the day and that is what matters. To be honest, as a cricketer when I have played for such a long time I obviously miss cricket.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Just 12 months ago you were Zimbabwe scoring a hundred in Test match there as a captain of the India team and then things went wrong. What went wrong? What is the turning point? Have you been looking back to find out where things might have gone wrong?
Sourav Ganguly: I honestly don’t know where things have gone wrong. All I know is that I came back from Zimbabwe and did not to find a place in the team. It is very difficult for me to say as to why it happened and what happened because I wasn’t captain then. I don’t get to know what happens in the selection committee meeting, what is the mindset and what are they thinking of. It is very difficult for me to say what went wrong.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Your critics have said that you were desperate in this period and that you went to the cricket board to try and find out what went wrong and you were raising questions. You wanted answers from someone as to why you were no in the Indian team.
Sourav Ganguly: No, it is not correct. These are guesses that people make. The only time that I met Sharad Pawar in Delhi was after I got dropped from the Test match against Sri Lanka. Then also the issue was not about selection because I had not met Pawar before that. It was the first time that I had met him in person as he had asked me to come and see him in Delhi. I met him because of certain things that appeared in the newspapers after I was dropped and those reports were not correct. As a player I wanted to know whether those issues were right or wrong>
Rajdeep Sardesai: Was it your relationship with coach Greg Chappell that broke up. That is why you felt isolated and it eventually resulted in you being out of the team. Is that the truth and is that what you feel?
Sourav Ganguly: It is very difficult for me to pinpoint one particular reason but the bottom line is that I am out of the team for whatever reasons and that is what matters. I have just played two games in the last 12 months.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Does it hurt?
Sourav Ganguly: It does because I still feel that I am good enough and that is the way it is but there must be something wrong which has kept me out of the team.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Some feel when you came back from Zimbabwe there was a controversy over an e-mail leak. Greg Chappell said that you were not a good enough fielder, you were selfish and you were lazy. That must have hurt even more. Was that the final break down of relations? It was in the public gaze so you can’t even hide it.
Sourav Ganguly: Well, that is what the e-mail suggests. That is all I can say.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Did you confront Chappell over it or speak to him? Did you try and repair your relationship with him?
Sourav Ganguly: We have spoke a few times after that but we actually never got to a stage where we spoke about the e-mail incident.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Did he give you any sign that maybe he didn’t want you in the team?
Sourav Ganguly: Obviously, when I am not a part of the team and part of the squad, somebody doesn’t want me to be in the team and it could be anybody. It is very difficult pinpoint one particular person because there are a whole lot of people who are involved in selection. I have seen that as a captain. Captain, coach, selectors, everybody is involved so it is very difficult to pinpoint any particular person. But obviously things did not fall together for a player to be picked.
Rajdeep Sardesai: For example, the irony is that Greg Chappell came into Indian cricket because he was close to you. You had gone to him for some tips on batting and there was a past relationship that you had shared with him. Something went wrong...
Sourav Ganguly: I have known him from three to four years even before we went to Australia. We were touring Australia in 2003 and when we hadn’t played well in Australia and I was very keen that the teams does well there because we had been doing well as a team and I felt that if I we can do well there as a group it will really lift up Indian cricket. I went there in the month of July to find out how well we can play in Australia and John Wright recommended me to go to him.
Rajdeep Sardesai: So there was a relationship. You said that you were not sure but somebody doesn’t want you in the team and you do not know who is that individual. Would you have lied to for example to Rahul Dravid with whom you have had a long relationship? Would he stand up for you? Did he explain to you as to why you have not been picked? Did the chairman of the selectors give you the reason for you not being picked? Did anyone come to you in all these months?
Sourav Ganguly: I have not got into such a situation. I met Rahul in Pakistan and again in Sri Lanka but I never asked him all these questions because he is captain and he has got selectors to pick the team. And what the captain says is very important in picking the team. But I have never gone into a situation where I have all these questions to him.
Rajdeep Sardesai: But would you have liked some of them to stand up for you, or at least tell you? Do you think that this is the problem: that, at the moment, you don’t know why you were dropped-which is worrying you more than anything else? Is it because no one has come to you even though you had such a successful ride as captain of the Indian team, as a player and told you the reason why you have been dropped?
Sourav Ganguly: I haven’t asked anybody to be honest
Rajdeep Sardesai: Have they come on their own?
Sourav Ganguly: No, I have not spoken to anybody about it at all I have accepted the fact that they have selected the best 14 which they feel are best for the country-and at times it happens, they pick players and the individual gets very upset about it.
When I was captain, there were issues about Laxman not being a part of the team. There were times when he was upset with me but we sorted matters out. Laxman is a fantastic person; he is a player of great reputation and class. Disappointments will happen when you don’t pick someone, whether it is Laxman or Kumble or anybody who has been playing for a long time; there will be disappointments. But I have never gone into a position where I have asked anybody as to why I have not been picked.
Rajdeep Sardesai: But you feel hurt at the moment.
Sourav Ganguly: It is not hurt but it is disappointment. It is disappointing when you feel that you can still be a part of the team, still make contributions and this is success in both forms of the game and especially in a year where One-Day cricket is a very important criteria. With my performances whether in the Champions Trophy, World Cups or in One-Day cricket I still feel that I can make a difference to the team.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Your cricket career is in the crossroads, and you have not been selected for six months. When I tried to pose this to some selectors and board officials they said that they do not have a place for you in the team and that is the problem. Have you tried to come to terms with the fact that maybe the cricket team has moved on as there are new players coming up?
Sourav Ganguly: I just felt that whoever is selected should be selected on the basis of performances. The cricket team has moved on doesn’t mean anything, because at the end of the day you need pick 13-14 players who you think are the best for the country and can deliver. The only way to find out that they can deliver is by performances, as you have to look at talent.
A hundred from an X if he is gifted will always be special or slightly different from a hundred from a Y. It is always going to be the case but at the end of the day numbers will never lie to you.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Your critics will say that Sourav Ganguly has got 22 one day hundreds, but he hasn’t got one in a couple of years. Sourav Ganguly didn’t do very well in county cricket; that was his last first class tenure. In that sense you are not in form. And on the other hand young players have emerged, including Suresh Raina, Robin Uthappa and Mohammed Kaif, how do you respond to that?
Sourav Ganguly: It is the selectors who are prejudiced to select who they feel will deliver for the team. I believe as a captain and a coach-whoever it is or whichever team-the best ones should be picked who will deliver. But as you said that for the last one and a half years, I have not got a hundred it is because I have hardly opened in the last one and half years.
The only time I opened was In England for the Champions’ Trophy and the Three NatWest series that I got out twice in the nineties: once at Lourdes and once at South Hampton. I hadn’t opened before that at all; Sehwag used to open and Laxman played a lot of one-day cricket at that stage.
He (Laxman) used to bat at three because John Wright wanted him to, so I batted at four most of the time. In Australia, the only game that got I runs close to hundreds was because I batted at number three and then again I batted lower down for the rest of the series. So, I have also dropped down the order in the last one and a half years.
Rajdeep Sardesai: What you are saying is that you should be judged in your entire career track record, not just on what is happening in the last couple of months. Is that right?
Sourav Ganguly: You should be judged on your entire career record also on the last couple of months but there should be a balance. When you play for 10-11 years you cannot have periods where you will be the highest run getter or the top three run getter throughout. You will also have periods where you might do as well by your standards.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Do you think there is a conspiracy against you. I get the sense that you get the feel that there are people conspiring against you? We saw those scenes in Pakistan where you and Rahul just before the toss were seemingly having a slanging match, as that was how it looked beyond the boundary. Did you want to open, or you were not allowed to open or you were forced to open? What was it?
Sourav Ganguly: It was nothing of that sort. People were miles away from what was happening and then passing judgments from just by seeing players’ talk is ridiculous.
It was an absolutely simple discussion going on between us about the team because I was asked to open the game; Rahul was telling me that he has changed his mind and I should bat at number five. There was no hard discussion and there was nothing happening. And in two days time I found out that it was reported that there were lip readers who were trying to find out what we were saying.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Do you feel conspired against or that you are a victim of board politics perhaps. That you at one time you were Dalmiya’s man. Does it have anything to do with that?
Sourav Ganguly: I do not want to talk about this at this stage because I do not think that it is fair.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Did it have anything to do with Greg Chappell? Would Greg Chappell coming and explain to you as to why are you not in the Indian team make you feel a little more reassured?
Sourav Ganguly: I have not met Greg Chappel after Pakistan tour and neither do I expect him to come and explain it to me. I have started to accept the fact that there is some reason for me not being a part of the team and I want to believe that it is performances. I do not want to complicate issues.
Rajdeep Sardesai: So you think that it is a cricketing reason and not a conspiracy?
Sourav Ganguly: I think that way because I do not want to complicate issues. I have played too long for the country to make things complicated for people because every judgment will be scrutinised. There will be different kinds of reactions to it. I do not want come in the way of anything. I personally feel that I can contribute.
Source : IBNLIVE
Rajdeep Sardesai: It has been six months since you last played for India. Has there been a feeling of disappointment? How have the last six months been for you?
Sourav Ganguly: It has not been too bad. Obviously, when you don’t play for the country as a cricketer, it is disappointing. But you get used to it after sometime. The last Test I played was in Pakistan in February and I haven’t played international cricket since then. But it is just one of those things. I feel disappointed because I miss cricket, the challenge and the genre of playing for the country.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Have you felt isolated and abandoned. Have you felt as if you are facing the world alone?
Sourav Ganguly: Not at all. I have never felt that way. When I came back from Pakistan our domestic season was already over. There were a few One-Day games left, which I played and after that there has been an off-season. However, I have followed the Indian team, I have watched them play in West Indies and England. Moreover, it is not the question of being isolated but this has happened for the first time in the last 11 years where I have missed a series. And West Indies tour was the first tour that have I missed in the last 11 years.
Rajdeep Sardesai: When you see the cricketers play or when you watch them on TV, how do you feel? Especially because you have been a captain of the team barely 12 months ago and now you are not even in the team. There must be a sense of despondency.
Sourav Ganguly: I miss cricket. Actually it is your own personal belief whether you deserve to be there or not at the end of the day and that is what matters. To be honest, as a cricketer when I have played for such a long time I obviously miss cricket.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Just 12 months ago you were Zimbabwe scoring a hundred in Test match there as a captain of the India team and then things went wrong. What went wrong? What is the turning point? Have you been looking back to find out where things might have gone wrong?
Sourav Ganguly: I honestly don’t know where things have gone wrong. All I know is that I came back from Zimbabwe and did not to find a place in the team. It is very difficult for me to say as to why it happened and what happened because I wasn’t captain then. I don’t get to know what happens in the selection committee meeting, what is the mindset and what are they thinking of. It is very difficult for me to say what went wrong.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Your critics have said that you were desperate in this period and that you went to the cricket board to try and find out what went wrong and you were raising questions. You wanted answers from someone as to why you were no in the Indian team.
Sourav Ganguly: No, it is not correct. These are guesses that people make. The only time that I met Sharad Pawar in Delhi was after I got dropped from the Test match against Sri Lanka. Then also the issue was not about selection because I had not met Pawar before that. It was the first time that I had met him in person as he had asked me to come and see him in Delhi. I met him because of certain things that appeared in the newspapers after I was dropped and those reports were not correct. As a player I wanted to know whether those issues were right or wrong>
Rajdeep Sardesai: Was it your relationship with coach Greg Chappell that broke up. That is why you felt isolated and it eventually resulted in you being out of the team. Is that the truth and is that what you feel?
Sourav Ganguly: It is very difficult for me to pinpoint one particular reason but the bottom line is that I am out of the team for whatever reasons and that is what matters. I have just played two games in the last 12 months.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Does it hurt?
Sourav Ganguly: It does because I still feel that I am good enough and that is the way it is but there must be something wrong which has kept me out of the team.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Some feel when you came back from Zimbabwe there was a controversy over an e-mail leak. Greg Chappell said that you were not a good enough fielder, you were selfish and you were lazy. That must have hurt even more. Was that the final break down of relations? It was in the public gaze so you can’t even hide it.
Sourav Ganguly: Well, that is what the e-mail suggests. That is all I can say.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Did you confront Chappell over it or speak to him? Did you try and repair your relationship with him?
Sourav Ganguly: We have spoke a few times after that but we actually never got to a stage where we spoke about the e-mail incident.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Did he give you any sign that maybe he didn’t want you in the team?
Sourav Ganguly: Obviously, when I am not a part of the team and part of the squad, somebody doesn’t want me to be in the team and it could be anybody. It is very difficult pinpoint one particular person because there are a whole lot of people who are involved in selection. I have seen that as a captain. Captain, coach, selectors, everybody is involved so it is very difficult to pinpoint any particular person. But obviously things did not fall together for a player to be picked.
Rajdeep Sardesai: For example, the irony is that Greg Chappell came into Indian cricket because he was close to you. You had gone to him for some tips on batting and there was a past relationship that you had shared with him. Something went wrong...
Sourav Ganguly: I have known him from three to four years even before we went to Australia. We were touring Australia in 2003 and when we hadn’t played well in Australia and I was very keen that the teams does well there because we had been doing well as a team and I felt that if I we can do well there as a group it will really lift up Indian cricket. I went there in the month of July to find out how well we can play in Australia and John Wright recommended me to go to him.
Rajdeep Sardesai: So there was a relationship. You said that you were not sure but somebody doesn’t want you in the team and you do not know who is that individual. Would you have lied to for example to Rahul Dravid with whom you have had a long relationship? Would he stand up for you? Did he explain to you as to why you have not been picked? Did the chairman of the selectors give you the reason for you not being picked? Did anyone come to you in all these months?
Sourav Ganguly: I have not got into such a situation. I met Rahul in Pakistan and again in Sri Lanka but I never asked him all these questions because he is captain and he has got selectors to pick the team. And what the captain says is very important in picking the team. But I have never gone into a situation where I have all these questions to him.
Rajdeep Sardesai: But would you have liked some of them to stand up for you, or at least tell you? Do you think that this is the problem: that, at the moment, you don’t know why you were dropped-which is worrying you more than anything else? Is it because no one has come to you even though you had such a successful ride as captain of the Indian team, as a player and told you the reason why you have been dropped?
Sourav Ganguly: I haven’t asked anybody to be honest
Rajdeep Sardesai: Have they come on their own?
Sourav Ganguly: No, I have not spoken to anybody about it at all I have accepted the fact that they have selected the best 14 which they feel are best for the country-and at times it happens, they pick players and the individual gets very upset about it.
When I was captain, there were issues about Laxman not being a part of the team. There were times when he was upset with me but we sorted matters out. Laxman is a fantastic person; he is a player of great reputation and class. Disappointments will happen when you don’t pick someone, whether it is Laxman or Kumble or anybody who has been playing for a long time; there will be disappointments. But I have never gone into a position where I have asked anybody as to why I have not been picked.
Rajdeep Sardesai: But you feel hurt at the moment.
Sourav Ganguly: It is not hurt but it is disappointment. It is disappointing when you feel that you can still be a part of the team, still make contributions and this is success in both forms of the game and especially in a year where One-Day cricket is a very important criteria. With my performances whether in the Champions Trophy, World Cups or in One-Day cricket I still feel that I can make a difference to the team.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Your cricket career is in the crossroads, and you have not been selected for six months. When I tried to pose this to some selectors and board officials they said that they do not have a place for you in the team and that is the problem. Have you tried to come to terms with the fact that maybe the cricket team has moved on as there are new players coming up?
Sourav Ganguly: I just felt that whoever is selected should be selected on the basis of performances. The cricket team has moved on doesn’t mean anything, because at the end of the day you need pick 13-14 players who you think are the best for the country and can deliver. The only way to find out that they can deliver is by performances, as you have to look at talent.
A hundred from an X if he is gifted will always be special or slightly different from a hundred from a Y. It is always going to be the case but at the end of the day numbers will never lie to you.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Your critics will say that Sourav Ganguly has got 22 one day hundreds, but he hasn’t got one in a couple of years. Sourav Ganguly didn’t do very well in county cricket; that was his last first class tenure. In that sense you are not in form. And on the other hand young players have emerged, including Suresh Raina, Robin Uthappa and Mohammed Kaif, how do you respond to that?
Sourav Ganguly: It is the selectors who are prejudiced to select who they feel will deliver for the team. I believe as a captain and a coach-whoever it is or whichever team-the best ones should be picked who will deliver. But as you said that for the last one and a half years, I have not got a hundred it is because I have hardly opened in the last one and half years.
The only time I opened was In England for the Champions’ Trophy and the Three NatWest series that I got out twice in the nineties: once at Lourdes and once at South Hampton. I hadn’t opened before that at all; Sehwag used to open and Laxman played a lot of one-day cricket at that stage.
He (Laxman) used to bat at three because John Wright wanted him to, so I batted at four most of the time. In Australia, the only game that got I runs close to hundreds was because I batted at number three and then again I batted lower down for the rest of the series. So, I have also dropped down the order in the last one and a half years.
Rajdeep Sardesai: What you are saying is that you should be judged in your entire career track record, not just on what is happening in the last couple of months. Is that right?
Sourav Ganguly: You should be judged on your entire career record also on the last couple of months but there should be a balance. When you play for 10-11 years you cannot have periods where you will be the highest run getter or the top three run getter throughout. You will also have periods where you might do as well by your standards.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Do you think there is a conspiracy against you. I get the sense that you get the feel that there are people conspiring against you? We saw those scenes in Pakistan where you and Rahul just before the toss were seemingly having a slanging match, as that was how it looked beyond the boundary. Did you want to open, or you were not allowed to open or you were forced to open? What was it?
Sourav Ganguly: It was nothing of that sort. People were miles away from what was happening and then passing judgments from just by seeing players’ talk is ridiculous.
It was an absolutely simple discussion going on between us about the team because I was asked to open the game; Rahul was telling me that he has changed his mind and I should bat at number five. There was no hard discussion and there was nothing happening. And in two days time I found out that it was reported that there were lip readers who were trying to find out what we were saying.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Do you feel conspired against or that you are a victim of board politics perhaps. That you at one time you were Dalmiya’s man. Does it have anything to do with that?
Sourav Ganguly: I do not want to talk about this at this stage because I do not think that it is fair.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Did it have anything to do with Greg Chappell? Would Greg Chappell coming and explain to you as to why are you not in the Indian team make you feel a little more reassured?
Sourav Ganguly: I have not met Greg Chappel after Pakistan tour and neither do I expect him to come and explain it to me. I have started to accept the fact that there is some reason for me not being a part of the team and I want to believe that it is performances. I do not want to complicate issues.
Rajdeep Sardesai: So you think that it is a cricketing reason and not a conspiracy?
Sourav Ganguly: I think that way because I do not want to complicate issues. I have played too long for the country to make things complicated for people because every judgment will be scrutinised. There will be different kinds of reactions to it. I do not want come in the way of anything. I personally feel that I can contribute.
Source : IBNLIVE