Sourav Ganguly recalls when he was stripped of Team India’s captaincy, ‘just have to bite the bullet’

Legendary cricketer and current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is one of the most decorated sportstar in international circuit. The left-handed batsman has amassed 18,575 international runs and was also at the team’s forefront in several glorious chapters. 

Under Ganguly’s leadership, Team India finished as the runners-up of the ICC 2003 World Cup, shared the prestigious ICC Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka in 2002 and his epic celebration after India’s exploit at Lords during the 2002 Natwest Series are some of the fond memories, which every cricket enthusiast cherishes. 

However, the Prince of Calcutta, a name that has been given to Ganguly by his devoted supporters, also endured some of the toughest moment during his stint with Team India and the former skipper went on to narrate one of those moments for his fans during a virtual media press. 

Recollecting the thoughts, Ganguly went on to talk about 2005, when Team India went through a transition under then new coach Greg Chappell. Terming it as the biggest setback of his carrer, Ganguly discussed how he was stripped of the captaincy and how he responded to the development. 

“You just have to deal with it. It’s the mindset that you get into. Life has no guarantees, be it in sport, business or whatever. You go through ups and downs. You just have to bite the bullet. Pressure is a huge thing in everybody’s life. All of us go through different pressures.”

“When you play your first Test, it’s the pressure of making yourself established and making the world know that you belong at this level.” 

“And when you go to that level after playing many number of matches, it’s about keeping up the performances. A little bit of blip and it doesn’t stop people from scrutinising you and that adds to athletes in a long way,” Ganguly said.

Speaking on the bio-bubbles, a preventive measure taken for sportstars keeping the prevailing pandemic in mind, the BCCI president added Indians are “more tolerant” to deal with mental health issues as compared to players from England and Australia.

“I feel we Indians are a bit more tolerant than overseas (cricketers). I’ve played with a lot of Englishmen, Australians, West Indians, they just give up on mental health,” the former India captain said.