The differences between Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly that no one talks about

There was nationwide nostalgia in the air on the eve of Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell Test match, that was held on November 14 of 2013 at the Wankhede stadium. A 24-year-long career, glorious and more, was about to come to an end. Out of those 24 years, precisely five years were spent under the captaincy of his dear friend Sourav Ganguly. But the two strong characters in Indian cricket were two different personalities. While Sachin had his own ideologies, Ganguly was bolder and turned the early 2000s Indian team into a nasty bunch. But Sachin stayed far longer in the mix than Ganguly and even though the latter is still considered one of the fiercest captains ever, Sachin had an unsaid power of the management, as was reflected in Rajeev Shukla’s words on November 13, 2013.

According to Shukla, had it not been for Tendulkar, most of the Indian players would have taken off their shirts and waved them following their glorious win at Lord’s in the Natwest Trophy against England. To believe Shukla, as quoted by FirstPost, captain Ganguly wanted all his players to wave their shirts to give it back to Andrew Flintoff. Yeah, like the fight that Flintoff had started with Yuvraj Singh during the 2007 T20 World Cup game that led to Stuart Broad getting hit for six sixes, the England all-rounder had once offended Ganguly. Just a few months prior to the Natwest final, Flintoff had waved his shirt after England won a game against India at the Wankhede. Hence, a hotheaded Ganguly wanted to give Flintoff a taste of his own medicine. Meanwhile, Sachin without communicating with his captain went ahead and complained to the manager.

The Sehwag-Wright episode

In a flow of his words, Shukla had also shared the infamous, yet popular, incident that involved the then coach John Wright and Virender Sehwag. It was game against Sri Lanka at The Oval, just weeks before the Natwest final, and the Indian opener had once again given away his wicket due to carelessness despite the coach’s advice. Wright had a master and disciple relationship with Sehwag and Sourav was the one who had seen the opener in the Delhi-batsman. As Shukla recalled, it was but Wright’s closeness with Sehwag that had led to the coach ‘slapping’ him after he came back to the dressing room. Sehwag was found sobbing and that had infuriated Sourav Ganguly. And in turn, the captain demanding an apology from the coach, an incident that was much to Sachin’s dislike. Yet again, an instance of when Sachin found it would be a better idea to go to the manager instead of having a chat with Ganguly first. 

"Sachin came to me and said that 'you must ensure that John does not apologise, otherwise the coach will lose his respect'. I got back to Sehwag and explained that it was just like a father chides his son, John did it. He understood and let it go."

Whether it was the ideological differences or the lack of clarity between the two teammates, the best of friends, these incidents painted a rather undesirable image of the bond between Sachin and Sourav. Ganguly, however, remained silent after these revelations were made and always acknowledged their friendship. But it was Tendulkar’s autobiography - Playing it my way- that had raised those questions once again. In his book, the legendary batsman had revealed about how Greg Chappell was toxic to the setup right from the start and Ganguly had to face the blow all alone. Yes, Tendulkar revealed about it and took a stand, but only eight years after Ganguly was sacked as captain.