New Delhi: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has once again spoken about his controversial ouster from the Indian team in 2005. In what is regarded as one of the most controversial incidents in the history of Indian cricket, Ganguly was sacked from captaincy and was subsequently dropped from the Indian team under the reign of former head coach Greg Chappell.
Ganguly and several other players of the Indian team had a fallout with Chappell, who is often criticised for his controversial tenure. Ganguly was sacked from captaincy after India’s tour of Zimbabwe in 2005 with Rahul Dravid taking over as the new captain. Opening up on the testing times in his career, Ganguly said he never lost confidence and always had belief in his abilities.
In a recent interview, Ganguly said he remained positive after being dropped as he knew he had scored runs against some of the best bowlers in his generation like Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar and Glenn McGrath among others.
“I didn’t lose confidence. I knew I’ll score runs if they play me. My coach didn’t go out in the middle to play Wasim, McGrath and Shoaib, I did that and managed to score runs against them. If I had done that successfully for 10 years then I can do that again provided if get the opportunity. Yes, I was very upset when was I dropped from the side but never lost confidence, not even for a second,” Ganguly told Bengali daily Sangbad Pratidin.
Ganguly did make a comeback to the Indian side after being dropped and went on to play the 2007 ODI World Cup under Dravid, where India suffered a humiliating exit in the group stages after a crushing defeat against Bangladesh. Chappell was sacked as the head coach as seniors opted out of the T20 World Cup later that year where MS Dhoni led India to glory.
