India’s lion-heart former captain Sourav Ganguly is no stranger to controversies, especially when it comes to his on-field skirmishes with the opposition.
Be it with his reverse mental disintegration against Steve Waugh in 2001 or his run in with Andrew Flintoff in the early-2000s, the Prince of Calcutta has not been the one who’d shy away from a fight.
Even though international retirement has mellowed him down, the fighter in him thrives somewhere. Here, we take a look at a few instances when Ganguly became heated, in the heat of battle for his country.
RUSSELL ARNOLD TOLD NOT TO MESS AROUND
This incident took place during the 2002 Champions Trophy final between India and Sri Lanka, which neither team won due to a washout.
During the course of the Sri Lankan innings, southpaw Russell Arnold cut leg-spinner Anil Kumble to backward point and tried setting off for a single, only to be denied the run by his partner.
But Ganguly fielding at mid-off got irked, here’s why:
DON’T AWAKEN THE SLEEPING DRAGON
Around the time Ganguly made his comeback into the Indian side in 2006, he no longer remained the one with the penchant for a face-off on the ground, quietly going about doing his business without distractions.
But it was during India’s famous chase against England at The Oval in 2007 that Stuart Broad awakened a sleeping dragon.
On the final delivery of the ninth over – with India on 55-0 – Ganguly failed to navigate a short of good length delivery from Broad, mistiming a cut that was intended to successfully clear the off-side ring.
As a result of this apparent psychological victory over the ‘God of the Off-side’, a cheeky Broad muttered a word or two and Ganguly snapped back at him:
HURRY UP YOUSUF!
Just prior to being sacked as captain, Ganguly was battling a spate of suspensions looming large due to India’s poor over-rates across multiple games.
So during one of the matches between India and Pakistan, as part of their bilateral meet in the first half of 2005, Ganguly got miffed with Pakistan batsman Yousuf Youhana for holding up the game to nurse his bleeding elbow.
Ganguly who is seen leaning on MS Dhoni’s shoulder in the video, engaged in animated conversations with the umpire before having a go at Youhana:
RUN POMMIE RUN
Zimbabwe’s thrilling chase against India at Faridabad in 2002 is remembered for Dougie Marillier’s heroics. But a small episode often goes forgotten – in the final over, with five needed off four deliveries and with just one wicket in hand, it was in Zimbabwe’s interest to slow the game down.
The batsmen needed calm nerves and a drink, for which Zimbabwe twelfth man Pommie Mbangwa was sent on to the field with a water bottle and a towel.
Ganguly though, spotted that Mbangwa was passing some specific instructions to the batsmen and he flipped: