Sourav Chandidas Ganguly is a revered name in Indian cricket. He was one of those rare Indian players who riled up the Australians. Ganguly was known for his aggressive nature. He led the team on those lines as well. Ganguly’s approach was not very different when he took up the role of a commentator. He had famous duels with many of his fellow commentators. Here are the instances where Sourav Ganguly silenced his co-commentators.
StumpsandBails looks at 5 instances when Ganguly silenced his co-commentators:
#5 Ganguly talking up Rahul Dravid
India were struggling against England in England in 2011. Rahul Dravid was the lone warrior who held the fort for India during that tour. David Lloyd tried to quip a quick one saying, “The beauty of Indian batting is when someone like Tendulkar fails, someone else does it and this time it was Dravid.”
To which Ganguly quickly replied, “This time? He has done it time and again. He has done it day in and day out for 15 years!”
#4 Ganguly handling Geoff Boycott with elan
Geoffrey Boycott tried going one up on Sourav Ganguly talking about his t-shirt incident in the Lords’ balcony. Boycott stated, “You must mention your experience about taking your jersey off and flying it in the air at the Mecca of Cricket: Lord s! Oh, you naughty boy!.”
Ganguly retorted, “One of your boys also took off his jersey here in Mumbai.” Boycott continued, “Yeah, but Lord s is the Mecca of cricket.” But it was the prince who had the last word. He said, “Lord’s is your Mecca, and Wankhede is ours!”
#3 Ganguly showed Ravi Shastri who is the boss
Ravi Shastri tried riling up Ganguly in the commentary box. He asked Ganguly, “In Eden Gardens, Kolkata, is there a Ganguly pavilion or Ganguly stand?” Ganguly gave a solid response saying, “The ground belongs to Ganguly!”
#2 He had no love lost for Greg Chappell
Rajdeep Sardesai had once asked Ganguly a question that he might have thought would make the former Indian captain uncomfortable. But he didn’t know what was about to come his way. Sardesai asked Ganguly, “Does Greg Chappell owe an apology to Indian cricket? To Sachin Tendulkar, to Sourav Ganguly, to Dravid?”
Ganguly sternly replied, “He can call up Tendulkar or Dravid. But he dare not dial my number. If he is hearing this on TV, he dare not call Sourav Ganguly.”
#1 Ganguly wins the battle of the captains
Sourav Ganguly and Nasser Hussain have had a history even when they were active cricketers. In a moment of oneupmanship during their commentary stint, Naseer asked Ganguly, “When can I see India in the FIFA World Cup?”. Ganguly retorted, “If India had played football for 50 years, then we would have qualified for the finals at least once.”
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