Sourav Ganguly reveals his father wanted him to quit cricket after being dropped

Sourav Ganguly's autobiography, ‘A Century is Not Enough’, co-authored by Gautam Bhattacharya and published by Juggernaut Books, is set be released on the February 24 this year. The book reveals the incidents that occurred with Ganguly during Chappell’s reign as India’s head coach, that had frustrated his father who had asked to retire from international cricket. The publishing house has also posted a free preview on the first chapter ‘Announcing the End’ of this book.

He also asked the captain whether he believed that his team wanted his services, to which he replied, "Kumble's reply consoled me. He said if it came to him taking the call, he would pick me again for the upcoming Test match selection. I heaved a great sigh of relief."

"The Board President's XI is traditionally used to vet the potential of promising youngsters or assess veterans whose Test future is uncertain. I was included in it as well. These teams got picked by the new selection committee under Krishnamachari Srikkanth, ” recalled the 45-year-old.

"But its mindset seemed to be no different from the previous committees. The message was crystal clear - that a veteran of 100-plus Test matches, a certain Sourav Ganguly, was again on trial."

"I felt extremely agitated. That is when I told my father that I needed to call it a day. Enough was enough. My father was a bit surprised. In the past when Greg Chappell had kept me out of the team and I was desperately fighting to claw my way back, he had wanted me to retire, unable to bear his son's struggle.Then I had resisted. I had told him, Bapi (father), you wait. I will be back. I still have cricket left in me. When I grow older I don't want to sit on my sofa and tell myself, Sourav, you gave up when the going was tough. You should have tried harder. I wanted to catch the bull by its horns and win," he revealed. 

Another chat with Kumble reveals, the skipper asking Ganguly not to take any decision in a hurry and Ganguly assured him saying, "I assured him I wouldn't. But deep down I knew my time was up. I made up my mind that I would give everything I had to be successful in this series."

"Cricketing history has recorded that I had an outstanding final series. Got a hundred in Mohali and narrowly missed the second in Nagpur," wrote the former Indian captain on his performance.

Sharing a moment of an interview after the Test match, he said, "In Mohali, a journalist came and asked, 'Did the hundred give you special pleasure because Greg Chappell was watching it from the Australian camp?' I said, at this stage of my cricketing career it didn't matter at all. I had got past all that. For me, he didn't exist anymore." 

"I had rejected his offer earlier in the day, but could not refuse a second time. Ironically, my captaincy career had begun exactly eight years ago on this very day. I handled the bowling changes and field placements while the last Australian wicket batted.But I must admit, at that stage, I found it difficult to focus. So after three overs I handed it back to Dhoni saying, it is your job, MS. We both smiled," he wrote.